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DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED AT 



NEWBURYPORT MASS., NOVEMBER 28, 1856. 



OX OCCASION OF THE 



ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BUILDING 



OF THE 



FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



BY THE PASTOR, 

REV. ATG. VERMILYK. 



NEWBURYPORT; 

PUBLISHED BY MOULTON & CLARK. 

William H, Huse & Co., Printers— Newburyport HeraH Job Press. 

1856 = 



•f I 1 / 



Newsuryport, Dec. 3, 1856. 
"Rev. A. G. Vermilye : — Dear Sir : 

The interesting and very acceptable discourse delivered b y you at the 
late Centennial re-dedication of the First Presbyterian Church, combines so much 
of its early and important history, that in behalf of the Church and Society, we 
•would respectfully request a copy for publication. 

Very truly, your obedient servants, 

ISAAC H. BOARDMAN, 
BENJAMIN HARROD, 
WILLIAM PRITCHARD, 
JOHN N. CUSHING, 
WILLIAM GRAVES, 



PREFACE. 

In 1826 Rev. S. P.Williams published an excellent historical discourse upon 
this church, with such material as he had. At the centennial to commemorate the 
organization of the church in 1846, Rev. Mr. Stearns, my predecessor, carefully 
digested and published the history of that act ; tracing the steps minutely along to 
this point, but passing rapidly over the subsequent history. The present discourse 
was delivered at the centennial re-dedication of the house of worship ; which has 
been somewhat modernized and repaired throughout, to begin another century. In 
some portions the discourse, as a history, is necessarily interlinear and supple- 
mentary ; with only such repetitions upon my predecessors, as was required to 
carry along the narrative. 

Sometimes the authorities are given, sometimes the very language used ; and 
the statements have been verified throughout, so far as was possible. To Joshua 
Coffin, Esq., Town Clerk of Newbury, and author of " History of Newbury- 
port," I am particularly indebted for many manuscripts and much information. 
My thanks are due, also, to others, for needful items. 



DISCOURSE. 



Who is left among you that saw this house in her first 
Glory ?" [Haggai, 2 : 3. 

Xerxes wept, we are told, as he looked down from the hill 
of Abydos, to think that in one hundred years, of all his vast 
army, not one would be alive. Over this church the century 
has rolled. From the summit of these years, to which time 
has brought us, we look down the vale through which they 
travelled, and ask, " the fathers where are they ?" If all had 
been godly, we need not weep to think they are gone ; but 
many, who can doubt it, went from these seats, even from under 
the sound of Whitefield's voice, whose tongue dropped manna 
which they gathered not, to the place of weeping. 

" Who is left among you that saw this house in her first 
glory ?" Mrs. Lucy Pearsou, (of Pearson's Mills,) died four 
years since* aged 98, and was the oldest in the parish. She 
had seen and heard Whitefield ; but now there is none, to my 
knowledge, who remembers Parsons. Of that generation not one 
has come down to us. Time's unwearying scythe has swept the 
last lingerer into eternity. The dead of this parish are already 

* There were then five generations under one roof, and twenty-five years before there 
were five. 



6 

a multitude. More than eleven hundred died during the 
twenty-six years of Dr. Dana's ministry alone : and in all, prob- 
ably, over four thousand have passed away — twice as many as 
the town contained when this church was built. But it is to 
revive the past, that we have met to-day. " The glory of chil- 
dren are their fathers ;" and to recall the " times that went 
over " them, may be alike pleasant and instructive. Why is 
" Old Mortality " such a favorite character, as we read of him, 
visiting the grave-yards of many an old kirk ; with pious care 
repairing the monuments, rubbing off the moss, and cutting 
anew the inscriptions of the covenanters and other venerable 
dead ? Tis a strong feeling of our nature, implanted for our 
good. 

This church has a noble ancestry, whose memory we would 
" not willingly let die." In gathering material for some account 
of them and their times, I find myself in part forestalled by 
two preceding histories ; but, without enlarging upon matters 
already well handled, I may, perhaps, add something to the 
general history. My object is, to give a bird's-eye view of this 
church, its ministers, struggles, customs, &c, during the last 
hundred years. 

(1.) THE HOUSE. 

This house, it is known, was not the first occupied by the 
congregation. In the incipiency of their enterprise, being " a 
feeble folk," only twelve families, they built a much smaller 
edifice on High street, near Federal, and remained there about 
thirteen years. But the place becoming too strait, especially 
after the great earthquake of November, 18, 1755, which was 
followed by a revival in the church and an increased public 
attendance, in 1756, difficult as the times were with them, they 
erected the present building. The nails, all wrought, were 
imported from England. Its timbers they took from their 



farms ; good white oak, fitted to resist decay and defy the 
Eastern storms. On the 5th of July they began the raising, 
and finished the 7th : " and not one oath was heard, and nobody 
hurt." Rev. John Morehead, of Boston, the leading member of 
Presbytery, then preached a sermon from II Chronicles, 7 : 12 : 
"And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto 
him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to 
myself for a house of sacrifice." On the 15th of August, Mr. 
Parsons preached the first sermon in it, the people sitting on the 
joiners' benches. Thenceforward for nearly forty years, a 
congregation assembled here which was estimated at over two 
thousand ; the largest, probably, in America. They came from 
Rowley, Byfield and other adjacent towns ; one member, during 
Mr. Murray's ministry, even from Methuen, thirty miles distant. 
At one time, the people in town waited to see whom this Society 
supported for ofl&ce ; for having a majority of the votes, their 
candidate was sure to be elected. And doubtless, though such 
an attendance shows the extent and power of the " great 
awakening," they needed Whitefield's warning against the insidi- 
ous influence of prosperity : — " When I was here before, he told 
them, you were a small people in a small house ; but then you 
had salt. Now I find you in a great house, and everything 
prosperous ; but zohere is your salt?" 

The " first glory " of this house was certainly not in its 
architectural finish ; though our pious fathers perhaps thought 
it, in Scripture phrase, " exceeding magnifical." As there are 
few, if any of the kind now left, I will describe it. Immense 
galleries, containing one hundred pews, besides free^ seats for 
strangers, covered three sides of the building. Opposite, on 
the long side, (East,) was the pulpit ; under which Whitefield 
was first buried. In the pulpit, at the end, sat the sexton. 
Immediately in front below, was the Elders' seat — a large 
square pew, elevated three or four steps, with a table. Behind, 



8 

and a little below them, sat the Deacons. And over all was 
the sounding board, hung by rods from the ceiling. An aisle 
ran from the pulpit, or rather the deacons' seat, to the door 
opposite ; and one all around in front of the wall pews, which 
were elevated two steps. One hundred and thirty-eight square 
pews were ranged upon the floor, with a chair in the centre. 
The seats were hung on hinges, to be raised during prayer ; 
and the older people still speak of the noise they made in fall- 
ing, which, if nervous complaints were as common then as now, 
must have frightened away the spirit of devotion, and indeed 
caused many a deprecatory request from the pulpit. Nor was 
it till 1801 that they thought to list them. They had no stoves 
till 1819 ; but there was a fire of vigorous, weather-defying 
piety, and that was better. Of the outside, the old clapboards 
and small windows have remained to the present. For some 
years they had no bell ; and Mr. Parsons wrote to England to 
enquire if some Lord or wealthy gentleman would not furnish 
one. The steeple was built in 1759.* Such was this house in 
" her first glory.' 7 Its high pulpit, square pews and lofty ceil- 
ing, with other peculiarities of the past, are long since gone ; 
and with the alterations just made, the frame-work of 1756 
alone remains. But within these oaken ribs, the same spirit 
lives, the church is the same. 

(2.) FORMATION OP THE CHURCH. 

The century preceding the "great awakening" in 1740, was, 
perhaps, the darkest period in the religious history of our 
country. This was true of the Presbyterian church. There 
was, indeed, among the ministry, no open unsoundness in doc- 
trine, nor immorality. But as to the life of godliness, among 

*Mr. Samuel Pettengill, ancestor of some of our present membors, fell fiom it during 
the work and was instantly killed- 



9 

both ministers and people, there was a serious and prevalent 
declension. They retained their confession and creed, but 
lapsed into a cold formality. In New England things were 
even worse. Here the early colonists, with the best of motives, 
had set up what was in effect a church establishment ; and its 
tyranny was sometimes scarcely less than that from which they 
had fled. Such is human nature. They gave occasion for 
Blackstone's* remark, that " he left England because of his 
dislike to the Lord Bishops, but he liked the Lord Brethren no 
better." Dissenters might freely go elsewhere, but here no 
man could enjoy civil privileges, unless he was a member of the 
established Congregational church. Numbers therefore sought 
its fellowship hypocritically, without piety and from selfish 
motives. But in time this law disfranchised many of the chil- 
dren of pious parents, who could not conscientiously make a 
profession of religion ; and what to them was even more painful 
than the loss of civil rights, their children remained unbaptized. 
Hence the convenient " half-way covenant ;" under which bap- 
tized parents of sober life, though not themselves communicants, 
by " owning the covenant " might have their children baptised ; 
who would then participate in " the honors and privileges of 
church members." Thus the church itself was secularized ; the 
consciences of the impenitent were quieted ; many owned the 
covenant, but of members in full communion, the number was 
small and diminishing. To remedy this, the doctrine gained 
currency of admitting unconverted persons to the communion 
as a means of regeneration. This done, what was to hinder 
such men from entering the ministry ? And in that day it was 
a position to be coveted, for other reasons than spiritual. It 
was for life, an office greatly respected, a secure support ; for 
the minister could pledge all the estate, real and personal, 
within certain boundaries, for the fulfilment of his obligations 

* William Blackstone, an Episcopalian, the first settler of Boston. 



10 

and contracts. The results are evident. A speculative, un< 
spiritual and unfruitful ministry. The searching, soul-stirring? 
quickening and peculiar themes of Revelation withheld, ques- 
tioned, denied ; a slumbering church, whose religion was but 
" a spectre of the ancient,' 7 godless households, depravity and 
vice. Such, writers of the period tell us, was too widely the 
condition of things in New England ; and from it Mather in 
his day predicted those subsequent convulsions, " in which 
churches would be gathered out of churches." Arminianism 
and other heresies were rife. Like the virgin daughter of Zion 
in her captivity, religion " sat in the dust, drooping and discon- 
solate, at the foot of the palm trees j" or, like a pilgrim with 
staff in hand, seemed about to retire altogether from the land 
of the Puritans. 

When churches are asleep and piety over wide regions 
almost extinct, God sometimes sends peculiar men to revive 
them ; men adapted to the times and places, men in whom there 
is such power of reproof, that listening audiences tremble or 
melt in tears before them. Such a man was Whitefield ; such 
was Gilbert Tennent. To the preaching of the former, this 
church owes its origin, during the great revival of 1740. There 
had been a previous awakening in 1727 ; following the earth- 
quake of that year, which excited general terror in the regiom 
One hundred and forty-one persons united with Mr. Lowell's 
church, (now the Pleasant street.) A " Monthly Society " was 
likewise formed, having for its object the reform of irregulari- 
ties, public and private ; among families and in the town. One 
man's wife, for instance, was " discoursed " with for disturbing 
her husband at family prayer. One person was prosecuted for 
sailing on the Sabbath. Sabbath breaking, profanity and other 
immoralities and violations of law, were attended to " accord- 
ing as the good and wholesome laws of the province had pro- 
vided." But though good may have been done, in the way of 



11 

suppressing vice and inciting the church to greater diligence, 
attention was directed, apparently, more to things outward 
than inward. The work lacked the radical characteristics of 
the "great awakening." Before the arrival of the first itine- 
rant, however, by whatever cause excited, an unusual religious 
interest was apparent, at least in Mr. Lowell's church. Forty- 
four were admitted to its communion in one year. 

When Whitefield came, the flame burst forth with before 
unknown fervor. Every church and every parish around was 
more or less affected, and in some places to a degree of which 
the present generation can form but a faint idea. Mr. Lowell 
for a time favored the work, and his church became a resort 
for the awakened ; Dr. Tappan and Mr. Tucker of the first 
parish, (Newbury.) not approving the "new scheme." The 
result was, the addition of one hundred and forty-three to his 
church, in about eighteen months from the date of Whitefield's 
arrival. Upon the subsequent divisions in both parishes, which 
have been carefully reviewed in a previous history, I need not 
dwell. They issued in the formation of this church. On the 
3d of January, 1746, nineteen persons formally withdrew from 
the first parish, (Newbury,) and organized themselves anew. 
In February, (26th,) their platform and covenant was signed 
by twenty-four males, and twenty-two females. The following 
October, (16th,) the dissentients from the third parish were 
received into their number. Thus the scattered bands, com- 
prising the most zealous for the revival and its doctrines in both 
parishes, became henceforth " one fold " under " one shepherd." 

In the formation of this, well as that of all the separatist 
churches founded by Whitefield, there was involved a protest, 
not alone against the spiritual deadness of the old churches, 
but also their doctrinal errors. The old Arminianism of the 
pulpits no longer fed them ; it left out of sight, explained away, 
esteemed absurd or merely speculative, truths which they had 



12 

come to see were vital. They regarded it as "a warping off 
from the pure and important doctrines originally adhered to in 
the churches ;"* and just so far opposed to Scripture. This 
view the records abundantly substantiate. In the creed of the 
church, adopted 1746, they renounced Arminianism on the one 
hand and Antinomianism on the other, as dangerous to the 
soul ; and planted themselves upon the Westminster Catechism. 
In a petition to General Court in 1748. to be set off as a sep- 
arate parish, they state the difficulty to be " doctrinal points, 
binding their consciences." Against the ministers of the par- 
ishes from which they seceded, at least till opposition and 
injustice had embittered them, they had no personal objections. 
They were, indeed, excellent men.f Their charge against Mr. 
Tucker of the first parish was, that he had denied original sin ; 
that where Paul says, " who were by nature children of 
wrath," he explained it to mean such by practice or custom ; 
that he did not enforce the doctrines of justification by 
Christ's imputed righteousness, nor of efficacious grace ; but 
rather laid the stress of conversion on the endeavors of mere 
natural men ; — and that he openly preached and printed against 
all creeds and confessions, as summaries and standards by 
which the principles of men might be examined.! This church, 
then, was founded on a doctrinal basis ; as the assertor of a 
pure Calvinism, and the faith originally received in the New 
England churches. This faith neither its members nor its first 
pastor had previously held. They had sat contentedly under 
different ministrations " in a time of great deadness," and 

* Creed of Church. 

tDr. Tucker was considered the champion of Arminianism in this region. Mr. 
Lowell was undoubtedly a serious, excellent and devoted minister,— although not in 
zeal and doctrine quite up to the revival sentiment of the day. 

J One of the " New lights " meeting Dr. Tucker, said to him, "Ah, Dr. Tucker, all 
your good works will never carry you to heaven." "Well, sir," was the reply, "you 
will never go there without them." So between them, they got both sides of the truth. 

[Withington's Sermon. 



13 

would have so continued but for the "great awakening," 
" after which (they write to Mr. Lowell,) your doctrine grew 
grievous to us." Mr. Parsons, for the first two years of his 
ministry at Lyme, Conn., had preached Arminian principles. 
But it pleased God to carry him through a severe mental con- 
flict, in which his religious views were greatly changed, and his 
heart, as he ever afterwards believed, created anew in Christ 
Jesus. " In my natural state, (he writes,) I preached those 
doctrines which an unsanctified heart could put up with, agreea- 
bly to the refined scheme of the Arminians ; but afterwards I 
taught the humbling doctrines of St. Paul, which we commonly 
call Calvinistic ; these being opposite the one to the other." 
From these circumstances, the church and its pastor were 
always strong and decided for the truth. It had been to 
them as " life from the dead." In the second church records at 
Exeter, is the following : — Yoted, to fellowship with no church 
that is not on the platform of the Westminster Catechism ; 
with a note, inserted at the suggestion of Mr. Parsons. Mr. 
Murray, his successor, was equally decided in the same views. 
When Dr. Spring and others were zealously advocating Hop- 
kinsionism, he preached three sermons on the doctrine of orig- 
inal sin, " at the importunity of a number of pious and 
respectable members of the society," and to meet, as he says, 
" the late extraordinary efforts of those who are zealous for its 
overthrow." On the same platform, the Bible as " the only 
rule of faith and practice " — the Westminster Catechism as a 
faithful synopsis of Bible truth, all the pastors have stood , in 
a spirit generally unpolemic and catholic, yet firmly adhesive. 
And should the day unfortunately come, in a degenerate age, 
when pastor or people shall be " otherwise minded," shall 
leave their ancient faith, then may it be said, Israel is 
not what she was " in her first glory." If so, however, may 
they have the grace to remove the bones of Whitefield and 



14 
Parsons from under the pulpit to a more congenial resting place. 

An interesting item of history, not generally known in con- 
nection with this town, may here be noticed ; and for the 
reason named, I give the narrative in full. 

A century previous, viz : in February, 1634, when Archbishop 
Laud, his willing pupil Charles I, and the malignant Earl of 
Strafford, were making the lives of God's ministers in Ireland 
wearisome, a number of them determined to emigrate to New 
England.* And in this intention Gov. Winthrop's son, being 
then in England, greatly encouraged them. They resolved, 
however, first to send a minister and a gentleman to the gov- 
ernor, to try the condition of the country, and to agree for a 
place to settle in. These were Rev. John Livingstone and Wil- 
liam Wallace. But providence did not favor their voyage, and 
they both returned to port. Livingstone then wrote to the gov- 
ernor, who received the letter in July, 1634 ; and in Septem- 
ber the court assigned them this very spot to establish a Pres- 
byterian colony. The suggestor of the project was Dr. Robert 
Blair ; a name famous among the godly of that day.§ In the 
winter of 1635, having meanwhile received letters from the 
Governor and Council "full of kind invitations and large 
promises of good accommodation," and perceiving no appear- 
ance of liberty from the bondage of the prelates, the ministers, 
with a number from the north of Ireland and a few from Scot- 
land, fixedly resolved to complete their design. A ship was 
built, (Dr. Blair being part owner,) of about 115 tons, and 
called the " Eagle Wing ;" in allusion to that passage in 
Exodus, " I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto 
myself." After much toil and delay, on the 9th of September, 
1636, they loosed from Loch Fergus, " purposing, (if God 

*McCrie's life of Blair. 
•^Grandfather of the poet. 



15 

pleased) to pitch their tents in the plantations of New Eng- 
land." In all they numbered about one-hundred and forty ; 
among whom were Blair and Livingstone, the most eminent 
ministers of Ireland, and others of note both lay and clerical. 
The voyage was remarkable. First the master was faint-hearted 
and put them over to Scotland for cordage ; he also pretended 
a leak, and grounded the ship. Much of the bread, not being 
well baked, had to be thrown overboard. When nearing New- 
foundland, they " foregathered with a mighty hurricane,' 7 
which damaged their rigging. " Then fell I sick, (writes Blair) 
being troubled with a great thirst, so that I could eat nothing 
but wasted apples." Then they sprung a leak, which gave them 
seven hundred strokes the half hour, and was at last stopped 
with wedges of beef; they lying to, meanwhile, to beat out 
the storm. In the height of the storm, the rudder broke, and 
the men gave up for lost ; but Mr. Blair, like another Paul, 
confidently told them that rather than such a company should 
perish, the Lord would put wings to their shoulders, and carry 
them " as on eagles 7 wings 77 safe ashore. And now they began 
to think of returning, all but Mr. Blair. Whereupon they laid 
it upon him to pray over the matter ; agreeing that if after- 
wards he continued resolute, they would go forward. But 
hearing this he immediately fainted in a swoon 5 and after 
lying as dead for awhile, arose and consented to return. Thu&, 
as Mather says, after " meeting with manifold crosses, being 
half seas through, they gave over their intendments, 77 conclud- 
ing that it was not the Lord's will they should come to New 
England. During all this danger, the passengers were mostly 
cheerful and confident, and never in all their lives, they said, 
had found the day so short. For in the morning they prayed 
awhile alone, then in their several societies, then had public 
prayer in the ship, till dinner ; — then they visited, and had 
public prayer till supper ; and after that family exercises, and 



16 

prayer through most of the night. And God was with them of 
a truth. There was one family of five, which had crept in 
privily, for their own by-ends, all but one of whom died. Whilst 
of the rest, the same number that went in, came out, one child 
dying and another being born to the same mother. Had this 
godly company been permitted to arrive, what a blessing to 
New England, in a day of lamentable declension, they might 
have been. But God had other work in hand for them. It 
was to rear a race who should come hither ; the noble Scotch 
Irish Presbyterians of Pennsylvania and the South ; from whom 
issued the famous " Mechlenburg Declaration of Independence." 
" The first public voice in America for dissolving all connection 
with Great Britain, (says Bancroft,) came not from the.Puritans 
of New England, the Dutch of New York, nor the planters of 
Virginia, but from Scotch Irish Presbyterians." 

It was a singular providence, that one hundred years later, 
circumstances should have made this a Presbyterian church on 
the spot they were, in vain, trying to reach. 

(3*.) MINISTERS. 

The first great name connected with the history of this 
church, is that of Whitefield. By his advice it was, that the 
separatists whom his preaching had gathered, formed them- 
selves into a congregation, when they could no longer, in con- 
science, sit under the defective Arminian preaching of Lowell 
and Tucker. Through his means, also, Mr. Parsons became 
the first pastor. Here his honored remains repose — a circum- 
stance which invests the church with a peculiar interest, and 
causes it to be extensively visited. Something of the peculiar 
characteristics of this people, may also be attributed, I think r 
to this circumstance. The earlier members ever remembered 
him with affectionate veneration. Mrs. Lucy Pearson at 98, 
would kindle when she spoke of him into youthful enthusiasm, 



17 

though but 16 when she heard him. They had listened to his 
matchless eloquence, and witnessed his glowing zeal. They 
were his spiritual children, they were the custodians of his 
body. They felt that it became them to be, like him, zealous 
in every good word and work. And in the tone of their piety, 
they were remarkable. Nor has it ceased to have an influence, 
that here are the bones of Whitefield. As they have success- 
ively stood over his venerable remains, the pastors have felt it; 
at the thought have " kindled with new fire," have tried like 
him. in the words of his own maxim, " to preach as Apelles 
painted, for eternity." 

So much has been written of Whitefield, that little can now 
be added. In person of a middle stature, a slender body in 
youth, fair complexion and a comely appearance, he was in 
temper sprightly and cheerful, and moved with great agility 
and life. In speaking he used much gesture, but with great 
propriety : every accent of his voice, every motion of his body, 
spoke. f His imagination was lively, and sometimes (as Dr. 
Samuel Spring remarked of him,) " he touched the smiles, that 
he might afterwards draw the tears." He had, too, a habit of 
standing up and looking about, whilst the people were assem- 
bling ; alert from beginning to the end, indeed as he always 
was, for any incident which might give point to his discourse, 
or " prove an arrow shot at a venture."^ But his preach- 
ing was not always equal. Garrick's remark was doubt- 
less true, that his sermons, as specimens of oratorical art, 
never reached their fullest power till the fiftieth repetition. 

fPrince's account. 

J As an instance, Mrs. Pearson said, that once a young •woman came in dressed gaily, 
and as the fashion was, with black patches all over the face. Whitefield immediately 
addressed her, " Young woman, did you pray before you came hither? You enter the 
house of God in the attire of the harlot." She at once crouched down and began to tear 
the patches off; and however rude the speech, it was the means of her conversion. Mrs. 
P. 's mother told him she was very fond of dancing; his reply pierced her conscience. 
"My dear friend, do you not know that every step you dance is on the brink of hell?" 



18 

Mr. Parsons first teard him at New Haven before the ministers, 
scholars and rector ; and notes the address as having little 
manners and no connection, the most undigested piece he ever 
heard. So with his manner. Of another sermon Parsons 
writes, " in most of his gesture and generally in his voice he 
gave his discourse life ; but not through the whole of it — it 
was a mixture of apt similitudes, with sentences that perhaps 
could not be justified ; yet full of warm affection." Where lay 
his wonderful power ? Here even women walked twenty miles 
to hear him. It was his incomparable voice and whole manner; 
every air so natural, every expression so easy, careless, and 
full of compassion and feeling, so moving, earnest, winning, 
melting — together with his vivid fancy, which heated every truth 
he uttered and sent it glowing into the conscience and heart.* 

" He followed Paul — his zeal a kindred flame, 
§ His apostolic charity the same." 

Dr. Smalley, who heard him when a boy, thus describes his 
impressions : " I was altogether absorbed in the services of 
this bold preacher, his stern look, his great voice, his earnest 
words ; and as I thought of my soul, and of Christ, and salva- 
tion, I was so carried away in my feelings, as not to know 
where I was. I could not keep my eyes off from him. I saw 
him in his prayer, his eyes wide open, looking on high ; and I 
certainly thought that he saw that Great Being up there, with 
whom he was talking and pleading so earnestly, and I looked 
up to the same place that I might see him too." 

The question has frequently been asked, were the results of 
his preaching permanent and happy ? Here they were emi- 
nently so. In Northampton, where, under the ministry of 

*When a cast was taken of Whitefield's skull, the artist remarked that by drawing a 
line from the orifice of the ear to the top of the head, what was rarely found in the head 
of a great and good man, the larger part of the brain fell behind the ear— indicating 
more feeling than intellect. A cast was sent, without name, to London ; to try the skill 
of the phrenologists. We speak of Webster's logical powers ; but was it not his imagi- 
nation fully a» much, that made him the pre-eminent orator? 



19 

Edwards, three hundred were added to the church whom he 
regarded as " savingly brought home to Christ," in a few years 
almost the whole church turned against and drove him 
away, for holding that none ought to be admitted to the Lord's 
supper, but such as gave satisfactory evidence of conversion.* 
There was no such falling away here. True, there were minds 
that staggered under the mighty vision of gospel verities, long 
withheld, and now so vividly presented. No revival the church 
has ever seen was without its faults. From extreme deadness 
and doctrinal error of one kind, many would naturally rush to 
an opposite extreme. And where God's spirit was so evidently 
moving, it was not to be expected but Satan should be abroad, 
deceiving some and inciting others to " more ungodliness."! 

" Wherever God erects a house of prayer, 
The devil always builds a chapel there." 

But of the reputed converts in 1740, about one hundred and 
forty, Parsons writes in 1754, that but 4 or 5 had fallen away 
openly. In 1767 he again writes favorably of the most in the 
church as solid and steady ; though an Antinomian preacher 
near by was very zealous, and had perverted some who twenty- 
six years before were accounted converts. Many of his spiritual 
children were alive when Dr. Dana came, and he speaks of 
them as among the " most distinguishing, judicious and tender 
hearted Christians he ever knew." Whitefield died, as you 
know, in 1770, at the house of Rev. Mr. Parsons. Portsmouth 
desired his body, and gentlemen from Boston, in a " manner 

*Dr. Hodge's History of Presbyterian Church. 

fMr. Parsons writes, (1754,) " Some among us who seemed for a time to run well, 
have since fallen away, some into gross wickedness, and others into wild enthusiasm, and 
have embraced several strange doctrines ; some affirm they have undergone something 
equivalent to death, and therefore are now immortal without any remains of t sin ; yea, 
beyond the possibility of sinning ; others ramble about, and when they can get admit- 
tance, creep into houses and teach the audience that human learning is the cause of 
driving away the spirit of God from the churches 5 one of this sort has lately been 
among my people, inculcating these principles. The principle seems to be taking with 
a few weak people, but I trust God will not suffer Satan to go on in this way." 



20 

pretty sovereign, made a sort of demand for it, and seemed to 
claim as their right to do as they pleased." But Mr. Parsons, 
though he " would not contend about his body," refused con- 
sent to any removal from the place where he had desired to be 
laid. Therefore he is with us to this day ; and 

" Thou, tomb, shalt safe retain thy sacred trust, 
Till life divine reanimates his dust."* 

BEV. JONATHAN PARSONS. 

Born at West Springfield, November 30, 1705 ; graduated 
at Yale College, 1729 ; studied theology partly under di- 
rection of Rev. Elisha Williams, the President, and for a 
short time under Kev. Jonathan Edwards, at Northampton ; 
ordained and settled at Lyme, Conn., March 1731 ; installed at 
Newburyport, March 19, 1746, by the following form. After a 
sermon, Mr. Parsons proposed that the church should vote anew 
upon his settlement. The vote was taken by the clerk, and 
passed unanimously in the affirmative. The pastor elect then 
said, " In presence of God and these witnesses, I take this 
people to be my people ;" and the clerk replied for the rest, "In 
the presence of God and these witnesses, we take this man to 
be our minister." 

Mr. Parsons, the first settled minister, ought ever to be held 
in respectful remembrance by this church. He was the nurse 
of its infancy in troublous times. Amid many breakers, the 
wild surges of fanaticism and the shoals of Arminianism now 

*Whitefield was buried in his gown, cassock, bands and wig ; and as late as 1784 the body 
seems to have been but little impaired, although the skin was " discolored and blackish." In 
the same vault lie Rev. Mr. Parsons and Rev. Mr. Prince ; the latter a blind preacher, whose 
life was marked by many striking interpositions of a kind Providence. He died in town at the 
house of his son in 1791 ; and out of respect for him as a man of God, he was laid in the vault 
with Whitefield. Sometime anterior to 1827, a part of Whitefield's right arm was abstracted 
by a visitor, as a present to a friend in England. Philip in his life of W. mentions that he 
had known who had it for ten years ; p. 519. In September 1S49, Rev. Mr. Stearns, the pastor, 
received a box from England with the bone enclosed. It was replaced, and the remains have 
eince been more carefully guarded against such antiquarian depredators. 



21 

crested with angry and opposing waves, with a sometimes timid 
and distracted crew, he safely piloted the church's way. And 
if, in the legacy the fathers left you, of a gospel faith and 
gospel hopes, there is anything you value ; if, reared in this 
heritage, the church's soundness and the fathers 7 piety, have been 
any blessing to you or shall yet be to your children, you owe 
much to him, as, under God, the instrument. Previous to his 
settlement, (March 1746,) the congregation had for three years 
been under a young preacher from Byfield, Mr. Joseph Adams, 
a man of piety and gifts, but inexperienced and somewhat 
indiscreet in his zeal. When Parsons came, he found among 
them " a number of serious Christians who appeared to be 
understanding) solid, and in some measure established in the 
main points of Christian doctrine. But many others appeared 
of an Antinomian turn, full of vain confidence, self-conceit and 
false affections ; and some that were the greatest Christians in 
their own esteem, were worldly and covetous." His work was, 
therefore, before him ; to build up the doctrines of Christ in a 
community and part of the land where they were evidently 
" run down." And for the duties of his position he was by 
nature and grace remarkably qualified. In person he was of 
middle stature, light complexion, with blue eyes and a some- 
what prominent chin. His countenance was commanding and 
strongly marked with character, his voice clear, rich and 
flexible ; so that his elocution became solemn and majestic, 
alarming or persuasive and melting, as occasion required. As 
a sermonizer he was correct, natural, easy and clear in method, 
with a rich and lively imagination, in matter weighty and pun- 
gent, combining usually both doctrinal and practical in the 
same sermon. His favorite themes were those of the cross, 
human depravity, the new birth, justification by faith, sanctifi- 
cation and the like, upon which he reflected the light of a clear 
and sober mind, mellowed by a most happy experience. Add 



22 

to this, unusual gifts in prayer, in extempore utterance, also, 
when he resorted to it, a fine and varied scholarship, and we 
have no reason to doubt the description of him, as both a pop- 
ular and eminently successful preacher. Whilst as a pastor, 
his own experimental knowledge of truth and of error, his 
faithfulness and caution, acquired from large observation of 
revivals, made him a blessing indeed.* And if his naturally 
choleric and rather unlovely temper sometimes made him 
enemies, the ready amend, his sensibility, open liberality and 
kindness, won the constant respect and affection of his people. 
Nor was his influence unfelt abroad. He corresponded exten- 
sively with leading men here and in England ; with Dr. Gillies, 
Dr. John Erskine, Dr. Thomas Gibbons, Dr. Finley, Dr. J. 
Eogers, Dr. Sprout, Dr. Eleazer Wheelock of Lebanon, Conn., 
and others. He was one of those who gave inception to Dart- 
mouth College ; and visited the governor concerning it. And 
being a warm revivalist and friend of Whitefield's, he was much 
consulted by the friends of the revival. 

Such was the man whom Providence raised up to 
mould the character of the infant church. But good 
Mr. Parsons dwelt all his days in the tents of Kedar. 
His change of opinion at Lyme, made him bitter enemies 
who followed him even here with their slanders. The 
surrounding clergy were mostly disaffected towards him. 
For several years at the beginning he lived in jeopardy of his 
life - r the low and vulgar sometimes even reviling and pelting 
him with stones in the street. How bitter the state of feeling 
must have been, and how unexpected was kindness from those 
of other societies, one entry in his diary plainly shows ; in 

*At his ordination Mr. Parsons, too hastily discarding the views of his learned teachers 
publicly rejected the platform of the Connecticut churches. For two years he was an Armin- 
xan. After his conversion he became a zealous revivalist, and strayed, it would seem, to the 
brink of the precipice, over which many others fell. But grace reclaimed him ; and having 
by itinerating some, enlarged his observation of the wildness and errors that were springing 
up, his whole influence was thrown against the fanaticism of the times. 



23 

1746 he writes : " made some business with Deacon Nathaniel 
Coffin, the town clerk. He treated me kindly, and kept me 
much longer than I expected. Blessed be God that he gave 
me favor with man, though he never came to hear me preach." 
Nor was he ever more comfortable. In 1754 his constitution, 
which was delicate, for the time sank under his perils and 
labors ; and a nervous rheumatism, with little prospect of 
recovery, induced him to ask for a colleague or a dismission. 
Subsequently the spread of Anabaptism, Antinomianism, and 
Pelagianism in the neighborhood greatly troubled him, he being 
almost alone among them in the opposition. One of the former 
sort invaded his own congregation in his absence, and had 
nearly made a breach among them. Whilst those ministers 
even who were Calvinistic in doctrine, seemed steadfastly bent 
to destroy Presbyterianism. These things led him in 1768 and 
again in 1771, notwithstanding his age, to think of a removal ; 
being tired, he said, of living among Independants, who were 
responsible to nobody. But in 1772 his public labors were 
suspended by sickness. He died July 19, 1776, aged 71, after 
a ministry here of thirty years ; and now lies beside his be- 
loved friend Whitefield. 

REV. JOHN MURRAY. 

Born in Ireland, May 22, 1742 — educated at the University 
of Edinburgh — settled at Philadelphia, at Boothbay, Me., and 
finally at Newburyport, June 4, 1781. 

After the death of Parsons, for several years the condition of 
the church was gloomy and critical. Their Elijah was taken 
away, and where was an Elisha? Delay and candidates led to 
dissension. Some were for changing the government. The 
original members, who had carried the church through so much 
opposition and persecution, were old and passing away. That 
virulent crop of error, which succeeded the great revival, was 



24 

rapidly spreading. Whilst, in so large a congregation, many 
were of course to be found who knew and cared little concern- 
ing doctrine or government, and might easily be led or imposed 
upon. The wisdom and diligence of the session, however, 
saved the church. And after repeated disappointments and a 
five years actual vacancy, Mr. Murray became pastor in 1781, 
notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of a few. 

There has never been a more devoted minister in this town, 
nor, except Whitefield, a greater preacher ; one who attracted 
larger audiences or held them in more fixed attention through 
discourses, which were ordinarily an hour, and often two and 
more in length ; yet some preferred Mr. Parsons. It is related 
of Murray, that one of his early opposers gave him a text at 
the church door, as a test of his qualifications. He laid aside 
his intended sermon, and discoursed with such ability as dis- 
armed prejudice, and called forth the extravagant saying 
of Mr. Parsons, that he had not been surpassed since the days 
of the apostles. There were others in town of eminence and 
reputation, but as a pulpit orator he far excelled. Of the most 
distinguished among them, a stranger remarked that " he was 
a planet too near the sun to give much light." When Mr. 
Murray preached his thanksgiving sermon* of two hours length 
for the peace, a gentleman from another society, being mean- 
while under great concern of mind over a spoiling dinner, fre- 
quently and resolutely took his hat to leave. But Mr. 
Murray's eloquence as often arrested him, till at last he whis- 
pered, " let the dinner go, I must hear it out." As another 
illustration of his oratorical power it is related, that during 
the war, at a crisis in our affairs, Newburyport was called 
upon to furnish a full company for actual service. But owing 
to discouragement, arising from a depreciated currency and 



♦Entitled " Jerubbaal, or tyranny 's grove destroyed and the altar of liberty finished." A 
distinguished lawyer of Boston recently proposed to have it re-published. 



25 

the state of the army, the officers labored three days in vain. 
On the fourth it was moved that Mr. Murray be invited to 
address the regiment then under arms. Having accepted the 
invitation, he was escorted to the parade, and thence by the 
whole regiment to the church. There he pronounced an address 
so spirited and animating, that the audience were wrapt in 
attention, and tears fell from many eyes. Soon after the 
assembly was dismissed, a member of the church came forward 
to take the command, and in two hours the company was filled. 
In manner, I am told, he was slightly pompous, but dignified in 
presence, courteous, sincerely kind, and by his people enthusi- 
astically beloved. In various labors abundant, he had often 
the pleasure, also, under the divine favor, of seeing abundant 
results. Dr. Green mentions that during his brief sojourn at 
Philadelphia, of a few months only, more were added to the 
church than during the whole of Gilbert Tennent's ministry. 
When he went to Boothbay there was no organized church, and 
a general inattention to religion. Under his ministry a pow- 
erful revival commenced, which continued through two years, 
and extended into the adjoining towns ; his own lodgings being 
often crowded with enquirers, even till three o'clock in the 
morning. His private diary of this period indicates a man of 
deep piety and uncommon ministerial devotedness.* And to 
his prayerfulness, meekness, good will and patient endurance of 
injuries, as well as faithfulness in his vocation in subsequent 
life, biographers and those who remember him bear ample tes- 
timony. 
Mr. Murray's usefulness, however, was circumscribed, and his 

*G-reenleaPs Fcclesiastical Sketches. Mr. Murray's plan of visiting, as noted in his diary, 
deserves allusion. First, salute the house. Second, compare the list with the family, mark 
them who can read — catechisables — covenanters — church members. Third, address — 1. ChD- 
dren to engage in early religion ; 2. Young ones to reading, secret prayer, the Sabbath, good 
company, good houses, good tongues, conversion. Fourth, address parents ; I. About their 
spiritual state ; 2. Secret devotion ; 3. Family worship, government, catechising ; 4. Sabbath, 
&c. If church members, see what profit — if in error or vice reclaim, in divisions heal, if poor 
help. Lastly, exhortation to all — pray. 



26 

life embittered by a prejudice and odium which clung to him 
till death. In this town and the vicinity, the pulpits were 
generally closed against him, and some of the pastors would 
not even speak to him. Some of this prejudice lay equally 
against the church, in which he shared as their minister ; for 
the old enmities still existed. Even to his day, the Presbyte- 
rians were contemptuously styled the " Joppa people " — a very 
honorable name, however, which first became local through a 
prayer meeting (one of the many which characterized the 
church,) " in the house of one Simon, (Pierce) by the sea-side." 
But it resulted mostly from an early difficulty in Ireland, to be 
presently mentioned. So decided were Dr. Spring's feelings 
towards him on this account, that he would put his hand behind 
his back, when Mr. Murray offered his ; and at a funeral where 
both officiated, he left the room during Mr. Murray's prayer.* 
His last days, too, were farther embittered by a breach in his 
congregation. During the long sickness which confined him, 
with heart-broken sadness, he saw from his window crowds of 
his former admirers rushing after Rev. Mr. Milton, a new star 
whom he had himself invited to town. And when one said 
something to him of his friends, he answered, " My dear child, 
I do not know that I have a friend in the world." But still he 
was an example 'of patience, resignation, and piety in his adver- 
sity. It was his wish that he might have a long sickness ; 
that he might show to all his firm and continued belief in the 
doctrines he had preached — and during it he asked to have the 
children and all who would, call on him for this purpose. Thus 
he continued to the end ; and died in peace, repeating the 



*Dr. Spring was very decided and strong in all his feelings. He fully believed the state- 
ments against Mr. Murray, and hence his course. He would have been as decided a friend, as 
an anecdote which has been mentioned to me may show. At New York he expressed a desire 
to call upon Aaron Burr. His son told him that Burr had fallen so low that any acquaintance 
with him was undesirable. But he said, u I have stood side by side with him in the same 
battle — in the hottest of it, I saw that little man carrying off the body of his commander on 
his shoulder — I must go ;" — and he did. 



27 

assurance that his enemies had but increased the frequency of 
his errands to the throne of grace. His closing hours were 
indeed a triumph, full of Christian aspiration and hope ; when 
he repeated the lines of that hymn : — 

" Death may dissolve my body now, 

And bear my spirit home ! 
Why do my minutes move so slow, 

Nor my salvation come ?" 

and gave up the ghost, March 13, 1793, aged 51. 

I now approach that stain upon his memory, which, also, 
darkened and saddened his life — as yet unrelieved by any con- 
nected statement, but to which, as I believe, a milder coloring 
may truthfully be given. He was charged with " forging his 
license/' or rather a certificate relating to the license.* 

Mr. Murray was from. Ireland ; where he united with the 
church at fifteen, and began the ministry at eighteen ; having 
received license, as he claimed, at Aluwich, Northumberland, 
(Eng.,) from the " class of Woollers — Isaac Wood, Moderator ; 
Robert Treat, Clerk." The offense, therefore, with which he 
was charged, occurred at the age of 18 ; and the other acts 
alleged against him in connection with the matter, before he 
was 23. His license having been questioned in the Irish Pres- 
bytery of Ballymena, he sent it to some in Edinburgh to have 
it attested by such as knew the hands that signed it. Instead 
of taking better steps, they wrote on the back of the same sheet 
a certificate attesting that " he had indeed gone to Northum- 
berland ; had certainly been licensed there — had preached 
several times in Scotland, in consequence thereof — and was 
well approved by them ;" and then sent it to him signed by 
themselves, with the words Moderator and Clerk of Presbytery, 



*My authorities are — Parsons' MSS letters; Minutes of Philadelphia Presbytery ; Memo- 
randa of my grandfather, Ebenezer Hazard, Esq. ; Murray's " Appeal to an impartial public}" 
a letter to a writer in the Spy of 1774 ; Confessions before Presbytery at Salem ; Protest of 
members thereof ; his will. 



28 

annexed to their names, which they were not. This certificate 
caused the trouble of his whole life. For being shown in the 
Synod of Ulster at Londonderry, (although by another in his 
absence, he always said,) it immediately became an object of 
attention. He was now accused of forgery. Meanwhile his 
Scottish friends had written to him, owning the fraud but 
beseeching him not to ruin them, as their prospects were good 
in the church. And rather than ruin them, and give his own 
enemies a triumph, which at that age he was too proud to 
endure, he defended the paper as genuine. From Ireland he 
came to New York, when hardly 21 ; and was in May, 1765, 
ordained and settled for several months as Gilbert Tennent's 
successor in Philadelphia. The charge followed him. The 
Presbytery of Philadelphia appear to have proceeded with 
great wisdom and delicacy in the matter. But the first wrong 
step had plunged him in the mire, and each succeeding one 
sunk him deeper. " The frown of a holy God was on the thing, 
he writes, and every measure of defence either promised or 
actually taken by the authors of the paper only increased the 
embarrassment of him whom they meant to defend." His 
whole character now became suspicious. Other things were 
alleged, but never judicially investigated, although influencing 
the result. And finally, as he did not appear to defend himself* 
and the case seemed conclusive, Presbytery deposed him. The 
Presbytery of the Eastward, however, afterwards judicially 
annulled the sentence, on several grounds ; his humiliation and 
confessions not only, but informalities and as they believed 
injustice in the proceedings of his case.f 
I have given Mr. Murray's own statement as to the offense 

*On coming to New England he had dismissed himself from them, as he thought, and regarded 
their action as an attempted assumption of authority which he disclaimed. 

fThe Presbyterian Church at that date had not assumed its present form. The Synods of 
New York and Philadelphia alone existed. The two Presbyteries of New England were 
independent of each other and of the Synods. Hence some things were done, which would now 
be irregular. 



29 

itself. To this he always adhered. His confessions concerning 
it were repeated, public, and most humble — none could be more 
so. But the forgery, and other misdemeanors alleged but 
never proven, he firmly denied. And now, with his whole 
after life and his death before us, what shall we say ? are we 
not warranted in believing him ? His acknowledged fault was 
committed at 18. Was there a radical defect ? From the age 
of 23 his life was public and unimpeached ; a life of great 
devotedness, and in what unextenuating penitence passed, a 
letter will show. In 1774 he writes : " The daily views I have 
had of the multiplied enormities it occasioned me, all of which, 
with the unhappy consequences to the church of Christ, have 
been continually before my eyes, have made me wish my name 
blotted out of remembrance by all mankind, and even regret the 
day of my birth, times without number. The Searcher of all 
hearts does know my agonies of mind on every review ; and 
that no restoration to the favor of men can ever give me 
ease — and that but for the application of Gilead's heavenly 
balm, I had perished of my wound years ago not a few. I find 
my comfort in my obscurity j — there I hope I find my God ; — 
and there I see less danger of being a stumbling-block in Zion, 
the very idea of which to me is worse than death. I have not 
a wish to be drawn from my retirement, (Boothbay) there 
will I remain, in secret places looking to him whom I pierced, 
and mourning as for an only son ; and striving to wear out 
the remainder of my cumbrous life, in the best endeavors I can 
in his service/ 7 &c. 

It is proper to say that Mr. Parsons took special pains to 
enquire into the reports against him. He wrote to England ; 
and the result was a decided conviction, that the faults com- 
mitted, in connection with his own humble acknowledgement, 
should not debar him from Christian charitv. 



30 

REV. DANIEL DANA, D. D. 

Born at Ipswich, July 24, 1771 — a graduate of Dartmouth in 
1788 — Teacher at the Moore School, near Dartmouth, and at 
Exeter Academy, four and a half years — Ordained November 
19, 1794. 

Mr. Dana's settlement was preceded and [succeeded by dis- 
ruption. The pulpit had been supplied during the winter of 
1792. at Mr. Murray's invitation, by Rev. Mr. Milton, a young 
missionary from Lady Huntingdon's school at Trevecca ; an 
earnest, eloquent and original preacher, although eccentric as 
a man. Many were delighted with him, and would have 
retained him as colleague pastor. But the majority being un- 
willing, his friends withdrew, and under the plea of "better 
edification " established worship in a private house. After Mr. 
Murray's death, and while under suspension for breach of cove- 
nant, they renounced the government, built a house of worship, 
and organized an "independent Calvinistic " church. Six males 
and nine females signed the covenant ; a session was appointed, 
and Mr. Milton became pastor. The forms of installation were 
quite anomalous ; for after sermon Dea. Solomon Haskell put 
the call to vote, and declared him their minister. Having 
delivered the Bible to him, and told him what system of doc- 
trines he was to present, he informed him that " so long as he 
did this and behaved well, they should acknowledge him as 
their teacher and no longer " — and then proceeded to give him 
a charge how to preach. Thus originated the Prospect street 
church. In 1798 some concessions were made as to the manner 
of withdrawal, and the session removed their censure ; and 
twice since, when needful repairs have closed our own house, 
we have worshipped pleasantly together for long periods. 

This division and Mr. Murray's death threw the congregation 
into much confusion. Mr. Samuel Tomb, a licentiate in the 
Synod of New York and Philadelphia, was called once and 



31 

again by small majorities, but declined ; a third attempt 
failed, amid strong feeling, and with small prospect of speedy- 
union upon any other. Mr. Dana, however, was called in June, 
1794, and installed in November ; but with a decided opposi- 
tion, and after a remonstrance to Presbytery. 

The dissentients then, in their turn, withdrew ; including 
most of the session, and many of the most substantial and godly 
members of the church. The clerk and treasurer being one, 
also took the funds, files and records of the church ; the latter 
of which were not restored for many years. In July 1795, they 
proposed as a peace measure that Rev. Mr. Bodclily should 
become colleague with Mr. Dana. This failed, and in October 
the Presbytery of Londonderry organized them as the second 
Presbyterian church, with thirty-three members. 

This opposition to Mr. Dana was principally owing to a 
misunderstanding as to his doctrinal views. Mr. Tomb was an 
old fashioned and doctrinal preacher ; without Mr. Murray's 
richness, indeed, but in the style of his sermons such as they 
were accustomed to — Mr. Dana a young man fresh from literary 
pursuits, with a different style, the graces of which at that time, 
probably, exceeded the doctrine, about which they were stren- 
uous ;* it was, therefore, supposed they differed equally in doc- 
trine. Certain it is, however, from a synopsis of his earlier 
sermons, that he was no less sound than now. And of the 
dissentients themselves many afterwards returned and honored 
him as he deserved ; whilst at a later day a twenty years pas- 
torate in the second church, upon their own call, gave the sur- 
vivors " full proof of his ministry.' 7 

Of Dr. Dana delicacy and taste would prompt me to say but 



*An anecdote will show how they regarded preaching at that day, and what they princi- 
pally looked for. After a sermon from a young man which, perhaps, had the defects of 
.youth, a free spoken member grumbled the lemark, " Peas in a bladder, peas in a bladder, 
no food for my soul to-day." The remark, it is said, was overheard and led to a new experi- 
ence in the young preacher. 



32 

little, as he is still among us ; but other considerations invite a 
reference, at least to his public and official life. He is one of 
whom no ill can be said ; he will pardon a brief report of the 
good. He has been called the Addison of New England ; 
and bis style as a preacher and writer is distinguished for its 
purity, ease, and propriety ; with sometimes a keenness in the 
use of words, when he takes the controversial pen, which, like 
Saladin's scimitar, cuts and kills without a visible wound. I 
should say his marked peculiarity was appropriateness. He 
would be sure to read the best hymn, to select the best chapter, 
and make the most suitable prayer for every occasion ; escaping 
difficulties, while pertinently alluding to them, with exquisite 
tact and smoothness. An instance I find in a funeral sermon 
of his. The subject of it was a man of strong traits and a 
posthumous fame as a liberal donor, but equally known infirmi- 
ties ; upon some features of whose character, his audience 
would have wished an opinion. But the delicate allusion, 
which could not be omitted, was rounded, and farther curiosity 
diverted by the apt lines (with many of which his memory is 
stored) : — 

" No farther seek his merits to disclose, 

Nor draw his frailties from their dread abode ; 
There they alike in trembling hope repose, 

The bosom of his Father, and his God." 

In pastoral visitations, at the sick bed, and with the sorrow- 
ing, the same trait made him most happy. Poetry and reading 
were laid alike under contribution, and skilfully made use of as 
ministrants of the gospel medicine. And thus he became a 
pastor beloved, who " did his spiriting gently." Of this method 
I may mention an instance. At Londonderry was an old man 
of eighty odd years, lame, deaf, defective in sight, and still 
impenitent. As a last hope, his pastor related to him the story, 
by Mrs. Thrale, of Death and " The Three Warnings ;" in 
substance this. Death having called, most unseasonably, upon 



33 

a man's wedding day, and told him he must quit his sweet bride 
and go with him, Dobson remonstrated — and death consented 
to retire, and promised him three warnings before he called 
again. At length he reached his eightieth year ; when sud- 
denly death stood before him. " What, so soon returned, angry 
Dobson cried, and where are my three warnings V 9 " I little 
thought, 7 ' said death, " you'd still be able to stump about your 
farm and stable." Hold, said the farmer, I have been lame 
these four years past. " However, death replied, you still keep 
your eyes ?" " No, said the man, latterly I've lost my sight." 
" But still you hear all the news," said death — 

" There's none, cries he ; and if there were, 
I've grown so deaf, I could not hear. 
Nay, then ! the spectre stern rejoin'd, 

These are unjustifiable yearnings ; 
If you are lame, and deaf, and blind, 

You've had your three sufficient warnings." 

The tale seemed at the time to make no impression upon the 
old man ; but when he died he left a note, saying, that the first 
thing which led him to think seriously about his condition, was 
the story of death and the three warnings. 

Among you who have so long known him, I need but allude 
to another item of Dr. Dana's pastoral life — but for not men- 
tioning which, multitudes of God's poor would blame me, could 
they rise. " When the eye saw him, it gave witness to him : 
because he delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, 
and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that 
was rea*dy to perish came upon him, and he caused the widow's 
heart to sing for joy." 

In his preaching Dr. Dana was lucid, scriptural and practical ; 
in arrangement a model for accuracy, simplicity and beauty, 
in doctrine clear as the day, in matter edifying. Happily for the 
people to whom he ministered so long, he had been trained to 
regard the Bible as text-book not only, but the very marrow of 



34 

sermons. He early, therefore, adopted the plan of expounding, 
half the day, with such acceptance that many would attend 
them, if detained the other half ; and with this manifest advan- 
tage, that sins could often be pointedly reproved in the exposi- 
tion, without such odium to the preacher as a voluntary choice 
of the subject might have caused. 

At the beginning of this century, great theological differences 
existed in town ; and in this the town was an epitome of New 
England. Controversy was rife, and alienations existed. " My 
memory takes me back, (writes Dr. Dana,) to seasons very 
different from the present." Scarcely any two churches main- 
tained communion with each other, and of six ministers, of 
near denominational complexion, scarce two agreed in theology; 
although the allusion to it in Dr. Alexander's life is not pre- 
cisely correct. There was no Antinomian. Some private 
causes there were contributing to this state of things, which 
was once a reproach : jealousies, perhaps, such as will occa- 
sionally arise among churches closely located in a limited 
territory — some, too, there always are under such circum- 
stances, of whom Rev. Mr. Chandler of Rowley writes in 1766 : 
" Sometimes I hear two or three religious persons spending 
their opportunity together in [crying down one minister and 
crying up another ; and they seem to think they are honoring 
God and doing him service." Far be it from us to defend or 
even countenance any such things. Politics, also, at times led 
to dissension. But other causes operated. The New England 
mind is active, independent, inquisitive ; a trait which* within 
the field of religion, has produced speculations, isms and 
heresies in abundance, but which also makes very intelligent 
Christians. 

In this town the people were religious in thought and habit. 
When the British fleet was off the coast and fears of a landing 
were entertained, a physician remarked, " for what should they 



35 

land here, unless they wish to go to church ?" They were intelli- 
gently religious, and strong in their belief as in character. 
Doctrinal points were just then prominent topics of discussion ; 
and sometimes the clash of opinion kept apart those who should 
have walked together, and differed without acrimony. These 
walls of unnatural separation it was Dr. Dana's steady endeavor 
to break down ; and in these efforts he had the cordial con- 
currence of his people. Neither to him nor his predecessors 
could be charged anything of " that narrow, contentious, censo- 
rious spirit, which has done such infinite mischief in this 
place."* Indeed, I know of no period when this kindly feeling 
has not animated the pastors of this church, and been exercised 
when circumstances allowed. 

Of those who were his fellow laborers, Dr. Samuel Spring is 
most extensively known ; and in preaching and upon some points 
in Theology differed much from Dr. Dana, although this brought 
them into no collision. For several years, indeed, Dr. Dana 
was paving the way for an exchange, which past circumstances 
for a long time rendered inexpedient. Dr. Spring was large 
in frame, with a stern blue eye and a look of command, " fitted 
to be a general and achieve great things," as one said to me ; 
dignified in bearing, but somewhat distant in intercourse with 
his people, although greatly respected by them — not strictly 
logical, I am told, yet a great logician ; fond of reasoning and 
with a strong polemic relish. Dr. Emmons, who was his 
brother-in-law, was about the only man to whom he looked up, 
or would call " Eabbi." 

His system and preaching partook of his personal traits. 
The creed of his church was minutely drawn out in logical 
sequence, to suit his favorite views. When, however, an aged 
negro wished to be received, as he would not have understood 
it, another was used. Once a hearer who was particular about 

•Dr. Dana's Sermon— funeral of Mr. Moody. 



36 

the text, asked him, "Dr. where was your text this morning, I 
did not hear it •" (the Dr. had named none) — " Sir," he replied, 
" it was in the title page of the book of nature and the con- 
nexion of things." To the last he was consistent with his 
views, which were Hopkinsian — to a brother minister at his 
bedside he said, " I have laid the foundation of Andover Sem- 
inary, I have been instrumental in forming the American board, 
and have preached the gospel for more than forty years — but 
what was my motive ; I have my doubts, but I commit myself to 
God to dispose of me as he pleases." As a preacher Dr. Dana 
was affectionate, Dr. Spring pungent ; for he said " sinners 
were willing to be pitied, but could not bear to be blamed." Dr. 
Dana would urge the use of gospel means — Dr. Spring would 
say to the sinner, " You have no right to draw another breath 
till you repent." One of these reverend men, so deeply inter- 
ested in the same Seminary, is gone. And if in more recent 
times, the other has felt himself constrained to utter his " re- 
monstrance" against apparent doctrinal defection, it has been, 
I am well assured, from no mere itch for disputation ; he loves 
the olden truth as the fathers held it, and having seen the rise 
of many errors, fears all seeming departures from *' the form of 
sound words." 

Brethren, look well at the venerable man, for soon he will 
have passed away. As a sere and yellow leaf, which in autumn 
still lingers on the bough, sole relict of spring and summer, so 
he remains— a memento mori — and time has left him, with a 
very few more, to remind us of generations once as numerous 
and as busy as ours, now dead and gone. Already he has 
outlived any minister ever settled in town. You may see him 
less and less in the streets. And when God calls him, a ,wide 
chasm will separate you from the founders and venerated fore- 
fathers of your church. 

When Dr. Dana's opponents withdrew in 1795, they left 



m 

him with an affectionate and united people, although for a time 
they were reduced in numbers. The period of his ministry 
was a flourishing but uneventful one. Many solid stones were 
laid in the Spiritual temple, but without noise ; it was rather 
a continual dew, than a season of rains filling the pools. The 
revival of 1801, which is still spoken of, affected this church 
but little ; only ten having united during that year. It had 
its origin in a young men's prayer meeting, and was principally 
in Mr. Milton's church, where some disturbances occurred. 
After preaching, young men would rise in the galleries and 
exhort. Once, amid much confusion Dr. Dana arose, and by his 
dignified utterance of the words, " God is a God of order and 
not of confusion," quelled the noise. 

One event, however, of pleasing and solemn and at that time 
novel interest occurred in 1815, June 21, at the ordination of 
the second band of missionaries, Samuel J. Mills, James Rich- 
ards, Jun., Edward Warren, Benjamin C. Meigs, Horatio 
Bar dwell, and Daniel Poor. Dr. Worcester preached an 
admirable sermon in the morning, and in the afternoon the 
Lord's supper was celebrated by nearly seven hundred commu- 
nicants from various and distant churches — the first instance of 
the kind, I am told, in New England and probably in the 
country. u The scene was novel in this country," says Evarts, 
with whom the happy idea originated, and it dwelt long in his 
recollections; How a spirit of Missions enlarges the sympa- 
thies and breaks down separating walls ! Mills would, probably, 
have led the mission to the Sandwich Islands, had he lived ; 
but " one soweth, another reapeth." 

In the autumn of 1820, Dr. Dana exchanged his labors here 
for the Presidency of Dartmouth College ; since when, till his 
retirement in a green old age, his history has been with other 
churches.* 

*Londond«rry, 2f. H., and the second Presbyterian of this eity. 



38 

REV. S. P. WILLIAMS, 

Born at Wethersfield, Conn., Feb. 22, 1779— graduated at 
Yale, 1796 — Studied theology with Dr. Dwight and at Spring- 
field with Dr. Howard — licensed at West Springfield* April 
10, 1805,— Settled at Mansfield, Conn., 1807— at Newburyport 
February 8, 1821. 

It would have been hard to find a man to succeed Dr. Dana, 
with anything like his peculiar excellencies. Comparison 
could only be annoying. Besides, after long and prosperous 
culture churches, like fields, sometimes need the plough. Prov- 
idence, therefore, in 1821 sent as his successor, a man the most 
unlike ; but one who, in a brief ministry of six years, left his 
mark upon the affections and consciences of the people. If 
Dr. Dana was a model of that politeness which graced the 
manners of ministers in his day, Mr. Williams was, perhaps, 
too blunt, and needed more suavity of manner. Whereas the 
one would say, perhaps, " may we not reasonably suppose you 
to be intemperate " — the other would have pounced upon the 
offender with a swoop, and said, " Sir, you are a drunkard." 
An old lady once asked him, " Mr. Williams, why do you never 
give me your hand ; Dr. Dana always did, and sometimes the 
t'other !" Mr. Williams had nothing of that, rather under- 
valued it ; from no want of feeling or refinement, but the firm 
texture of the man. Many of you can remember his tall and 
soldierly form ; his face through which, as in a transparency, 
every purpose of a heart above disguise, was visible. Here, 
one would at once say, is a straightforward, honest man ; there 
are no lurking places of deceit in his heart. His character 
was firmly rooted, upright and strong in growth ; flinging 
forth its branches freely to the winds and storms of heaven. 

*A pleasing coincidence connects three of the pastors with West Springfield. The writer 
passed some years there during his father's ministry, Col. Jonathan Parsons being an immedi- 
ate neighbor ; and was called there at the same time with Newburyport. 



39 

He spoke freely, acted freely. When Rev. Mr. Giles honorably 
placed at his disposal the long withheld church records and 
offered to send them home, no, he would shoulder the bag. He 
followed duty on a line ; and if difficulty opposed itself, he 
would mount the hill, but never turn its flank. About the only 
time, perhaps, that he was known to yield, was when he had 
fixed upon a residence in Newbury and some of his people, (who 
wished him nearer) said, " if he lived there he might go there 
to meeting.''' Such a man, with faults so superficial, makes 
warm friends ; and his real excellence was appreciated. 

Being such in temperament, however, he was not so well 
adapted to scenes where tenderness and sympathy were 
demanded. He was a reprover rather than a consoler, and lacked 
the pathetic. Yet he was very eloquent, a perfect articulator, 
a master of gesture and oratory, with a " melodious voice that 
fastened the ear to his theme — whilst his beautiful language, 
shining illustrations, energy and earnestness and pungency in 
reproof, captivated the attention and bore down on the heart." 
But he was deficient in analysis ; would sometimes illustrate 
his illustrations, till his hearers lost the thread ; and from a 
certain obscurity of style, it was by lightning flashes, rather 
than continuous thought, that his impression was made. Many 
souls, however, were given to him, and to this people he was a 
blessing. His last sermon was very touching. It was on 
Thanksgiving day, less than a month before his death, on the 
" value of life." Too weak to stand, he preached it sitting in 
a chair. And although his manner was not as animated as 
usual, his pallid face, evidently sealed by death, the subject, 
made it the most effective he ever delivered. He died Decem- 
ber 23, 1826. 



40 

(4.) GOVERNMENT AND ELDERSHIP. 

Avoiding Prelacy on the one hand, and Independancy on the 
other, the founders organized this a Presbyterian church. To 
the former with its Bishops, clerical orders and forms, they 
had no leanings — from the latter their own experience of its 
workings had made them particularly averse. It was a loose 
democracy, under which, if passion or prejudice actuated a 
church, as in their case, there was no appeal, no redress. They 
were forced, in order to obtain their liberty and rights from 
church and state, as the law then was, to become another 
denomination ; and to guard themselves and children so far as 
possible against the evils they had seen and suffered, against 
false doctrine and oppression, they became Presbyterian. As 
Mr. Williams says in his sermon, " they had suffered too serious 
evils for want of a judicatory to which they might resort under 
their grievances, to expose themselves again to embarrassment." 
Mr. Stearns remarks. " Strange as it may seem to some, who 
are in the habit of regarding Presby terianism as too rigid, and 
unfriendly to popular rights, it was expressly for the purpose 
of avoiding undue rigidity, and in defence of popular rights, 
that the founders of this church adopted that form of govern- 
ment." In fact, from seeing how capricious and often oppressive 
church discipline became under Independancy, and alarmed at 
the spread of error, many leading ministers of the day were led 
to advocate a Presbyterian government as the best remedy. 
President Edwards, for example, said, " I have long been out 
of conceit of our unsettled, independant, confused way of church 
government ; and the Presbyterian way has ever appeared to 
me most agreeable to the word of God, and the reason and 
nature of things." Under this way, the government is repre- 
sentative and republican. There being a series of courts, be- 
ginning with the session ; to which should always be elected 
the men most approved in a church for piety and wisdom* 



41 

These courts are under definite rules. And if injured or 
aggrieved in the lower, appeal may be made to a higher, even 
up to the General Assembly of the whole church. This was 
the system under which our fathers sheltered themselves from 
false doctrine and church oppression ; and their first act was 
to choose six ruling elders. 

Of the Session I can say, from a diligent perusal of the 
records, that, in general, they have been faithful watchmen over 
the spiritual interests of the church. It would seem, that till 
Mr. Murray's day, the visitation of families was not customary 
with the pastor, except on extraordinary occasions.* Mr. 
Murray mentioned the neglect of it as one of his objections to 
settling here. This work the Session performed. In 1780 they 
districted the parish ; each elder pledging himself to a careful 
supervision of his charge in spiritual matters. They catechised 
the children, assisted in arranging personal difficulties, and 
performed other such duties. Several times addresses have 
been presented by session to the congregation, with the most 
happy effect — in which the state of the church was reviewed,, 
prevalent sins were brought to their notice, measures of revival 
proposed, and means for doing good suggested. Measures o£ 
evangelization among the destitute around, were early adopted 
by them. And though, " for want of co-operation in other 
churches, less was effected than attempted, yet through their 
importunity with Presbytery, and a petition to General Court, 
something was done for their relief."! 

In its times of difficulty, or when destitute of a pastor, the 
Session has often been the safety of the church. Its unity has 
thus been preserved, its discipline and purity maintained,, the 
pulpit supplied, and the interests of piety and benevolence have 

•Mr. Lowell in one of his letters says, it was not regarded, when he settled, by many of the 
^ministers around as a necessary pa,rt of their work unless sent for. He first introduced the 
practice in that church. 
tWiHiams' Sermon, p. 24. 

6 



42 

been attended to ; when otherwise, in so large a society, disci- 
pline might have been a fire-brand, evils suffered to ripen unre- 
strained, false doctrine have intruded, and order been lost. 

Of the many godly and praying men who have from time to 
time composed it, I have not the means of giving any sketch. 
Yet the names of some have come down to us as very eminent 
in piety. Such was Captain Jonathan Parsons* the Christian 
shipmaster, who carried religion and the Sabbath aboard, and 
maintained their influence in forecastle and cabin, in a day when 
such men were few — a man learned in the scriptures and in 
doctrine, frugal of sleep and meals that he might read and pray, 
and whose Bible, his choice companion, lay open, and by early 
rising was not seldom read through in a voyage — a model 
Elder, a pattern seaman. Such were Long, and Sewall, and 
Coombs, and the Moodys ; one of the latter remarkable in 
prayer, the other, " good old Master Moody " as he was called, 
the last who occupied the old seats under the pulpit, and 
" whose eyes were never known to wander during service, how- 
ever long." Such, more recently, were Wheelwright and 
Clark,f and Simpson, my venerable friend. But there is one 
who deserves a special notice, Ralph Cross, who may be called 
the founder of the church. Of the work of grace in 1740 he 
was a noble trophy, and one of its most zealous promoters. To 
the poor he was " a dew from the Lord ;" in liberality, though 
dependent on his industry, unwearied, and in ways that were 
then even singular. During that revival, he opened his heart, 
his house and his purse freely to all who seemed honestly to 
befriend it. At length, having found a goodly number, whom 
he judged sincere subjects of vital religion, he animated them 



*Son of the first pastor, and brother of Major General Parsons of Revolutonary memory. 
Mr. Murray wrote a very eloquent sermon at his death, entitled " The happy voyage com-? 
pleted and the sure anchor cast." 

tFather and uncle of Bishop Clark of Rhode Island, and a family of ministers. 



43 

to form this church.* And to his benefactions and other exer- 
tions, at the time, was greatly owing its success in surmounting 
the many difficulties it encountered. Its first stated preacher 
was boarded at his house, free of expense, for three years. A 
principle part of the cost of building the first meeting house, 
was defrayed by him. And of the seven who purchased and 
presented to Mr. Parsons a valuable house and lot of land, he 
was the chief. In building the present house, he, also, rendered 
essential aid — and presented that venerable King James' Bible, 
from which Whitefield preached, and which is still an appendage 
and glory of our pulpit. Yet much more even was the church 
indebted to his piety, his example, his admonitions in word and 
writing, and his prayers, during a long and useful life. He 
was an Elder forty-one years ; and died 1788, aged 82. Let 
the church, for which to the last his withered hands and 
streaming eyes were lifted in the public prayer, hold him and 
his in remembrance.! 

(5.) STRUGGLES AND TROUBLES. 

The first great struggle of this church, was with the old par- 
ishes ; and deserves particular notice, both from its character 
and consequences. The Puritan fathers did not learn toleration 
from their troubles in England. They only became the more 
determined to enjoy peace themselves in their new home. Re- 
ligion was. therefore, placed under legal enactments. Parish 
lines were drawn ; and all within the limits must attend, and 
were taxed to support the church there established. Toleration 
and the voluntary principle were the fruit of time and trouble. 



•Murray's funeral sermon. 

tHis sons Stephen and Ralph, were both members of the Committee of Safety during the 
Revolution. Stephen was taken prisoner at Fort Oswego, and sent to England; but returned 
and died in 1S09, aged 78. Ralph was in the battles of Stillwater and Saratoga, and became 
a Brigadier General. He died in 1800. aged 62, Miss Martha Nowell, a granddaughter, is the 
only one of his descendants now connected with the church, aged about 80. 



In 1634, Roger Williams had broached the heresy, that " no one 
should be bound to worship or to maintain worship, without his 
Own consent." " What ! exclaimed his antagonists, amazed at 
his tenets, is not the laborer worthy of his hire V " Yes," he 
replied, "from them that hire him." 

From 1742 to 1770 this church was manfully battling for the 
very same principle. One evil of the law was, that in many par- 
ishes which were Originally Calvinistic, the inhabitants, by a 
major vote, had settled Pelagian or Arminian teachers ; whom 
the minority must support, when they could not, in conscience, 
attend their ministry. If they built a house of worship for 
themselves, on the voluntary plan, they were still taxed to sup- 
port the old one ; and for rebuilding or repairing it, they must 
pay what the parish assessed. Thus, in a time of declension r 
the law itself became a weapon of oppression to the real fol- 
lowers of the puritan doctrines. So it was with this church in 
relation to the first and third parishes. Its members could 
neither get dismissions, redress, nor freedom from taxation, 
which many were ill able to bear. The Quakers had obtained 
a special act of exemption in 1737 — the Episcopalians in 1743. 
The Anabaptists enjoyed a like favor. To place themelves, there- 
fore, on the same footing before the law, and for other reasons 
already stated, this church became Presbyterian.* But the old 
parishes long and steadily resisted; and General Court again and 
again refused the petitioners the relief they sought, although itself 
&t the time complaining of the British court for taxing the peo- 
ple without their consent. For the old parishes, however, some- 
thing may be said. Their spirit, indeed, was bad enough, and 
their treatment of these brethren sometimes indefensible. Many 

of them, unable to pay their double taxes, were imprisoned. 

* 

*Mr. Rogers of Ipswich particularly advised such a course. The battle was not for them- 
selves alone, but for many more in the churches who were similarly oppressed. If this church 
succeeded, he said, they might soon form a consociation or Presbytery, which was much the 
better way. 



45 

Mr. Larsons was maltreated, and visited them at a risk. But 
excitement was running high) the law was on their side, though 
even " right too rigid, hardens into wrong." Besides and prin- 
cipally, the new society was drawing heavily upon their num- 
bers. One thousand souls from the first and third parishes, 
were said in 1749 to attend the new church. This was, 
probably, an exaggeration. Large numbers, however, did go ; 
many of them, the opposers say, "unthinking youth and servants 
black and white, to be from under their parents and masters' 
eyes, and partly to see the extraordinaries, still practiced 
among them, but discountenanced in the regular churches." 
What these '•extraordinaries" were, we remain uninformed, as 
probably Mr. Parsons also was. Thus the old parishes were 
greatly reduced. And if G-eneral Court were to free the 
remonstrants from taxation, a heavy burden would fall upon 
those that remained. Besides, other sects might spring up, and 
thus the whole parish system be disarranged. 

This struggle continued, the members of this church paying 
'double taxes, till 1770. Then one hundred individuals peti- 
tioned the town, and the town petitioned the Court to grant 
exemption ; but the trail of the division remained for years 
after. This church, 'therefore, (if I am correctly informed), has 
the honor of being the last sufferer and of breaking up the 
oppression of the old colony laws. In 1780 the new constitu- 
tion gave equal rights to all, under certain restrictions. 

Other troubles, of an intestine nature, have already been 
mentioned ; and some besides will come under the next head. 

{6.) CUSTOMS. 

One hundred years make great changes in the habitudes of a 
people. Then and within remembrance, women came to church 
on pillions, and were not afraid of weather. When Miss 



46 

Hannah Tracy used the first umbrella in town, she was roundly 
abused for her pride. An item of history sufficiently illustrates 
their domestic habits. In 1720 the Scotch Irish emigrants 
had introduced potatoes and the spinning wheel into New Eng- 
land. In 1768 the young ladies met at Mr. Parsons', and after 
a sermon from Proverbs 34 :• 19, they spun for Mrs. Parsons two 
hundred and seventy skeins of good yarn. In 1787 they did 
the same at Mr. Murray's ; who preached from Exodus 35 : 25, 
"And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their 
hands." Donation parties, however^ were not much the custom j 
Some changes have taken place in the conduct of weddings and 
funerals ; for whereas now, the greater number perhaps, go 
quietly to the minister to be married, then the bride was 
escorted home by a procession of carriages ; and in many houses 
a large room was built expressly for weddings and funerals. 
At the latter, spirituous liquors were provided for the bearers 
and others. On Sabbath, till within thirty years, ti thing-men 
were about the streets making reconnoissance and sending 
people to church. But many still had the bad habit of standing 
about the church doors ; which in 1780 the Session vigorously 
remonstrated against as a desecration. The clergy, in those 
days, were more a class apart than now ; and were readily 
known by the hat, looped up on three sides, the large white 
wig "full of learning," and other canonicals; all of which, 
except the wig, Mr. Milton wore till 1818. The wig, however, 
was at first looked upon with conscientious abhorrence by many. 
In 1752 one member in Newbury refused communion with the 
church, because the pastor wore a wig and the church justified 
him in it. Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians, believed the suffer- 
ings of King Philip's war, a judgment from heaven on account 
df the practice. 

In this church, some customs have come down to us from the 
beginning, others have been changed for the better. We still 



4? 

elect elders annually, having from nine to twelve, a number 
which the business of the church requires. Formerly ordina- 
tion was sometimes neglected, but we now ordain every new 
elder ; and except an occasional instance of withdrawal from 
active service for special reasons, they continue to be re-elected. 
In the third parish till 1750, and in the first till 1769, the 
scriptures were not read in the public worship ; the puritans 
wishing, in this respect as in others, to differ from Episcopacy, 
which requires such reading* and prescribes the portion for 
every service. The fathers stood in family prayer for the same 
reason. But here the scriptures were always read. The first 
attempted change in customs related to the singing, and caused 
long and serious dissension ; in fact more animosity and aliena- 
tion of feeling, than almost any other subject which has agita^ 
ted the congregation. In 1720 a much needed reform had 
commenced. Till that time the churches had but eight or ten 
tunes, and they were "tortured and twisted as every 
unskilful throat saw fit." The singing sounded, says Mr. 
Walter, " like five hundred different tunes roared out at the 
same time," and had become so drawling that " I myself have 
twice in one note paused to take breath." The reform caused a 
wonderful excitement and opposition — " Truly," says one, " I 
have a great jealousy that if we once begin to sing by rule, 
the next thing will be to pray by rule and preach by rule and 
then comes popery !" It was the attempt to discontinue 
" lining out the psalm " that produced the commotion here, and 
during the long contest there was some indecorum. For occa? 
sionally, whilst one party sang as the Deacon lined it, the 
•opposers would finish the verse, whatever the discord. But at 
last the innovators triumphed, and peace was restored. The 
first organ built in this country was in Boston, 1745. The first 
playing of one in this town was July 1753, at the Episcopal 
church. Here, however, they used the old fashioned pitch pipe 



48 

with notes on, and blown at one end, till Br. Dana's day, when 
the clarionet and bass-viol were introduced — much to the 
scandal of one worthy member, who said " they had got the 
fiddle and only needed that the minister should get up and 
dance." I do not find that any of the older hymn books, 
Sternhold and Hopkins, Tate and Brady, or the " Bay Psalm 
Book," were ever used in this church, although in use around. 
In 1718 Dr. Watts sent some of his Psalms to Cotton Mather 
for his opinion. The first edition in this country was published 
in 1741 ; and probably his version was always used, as I have 
seen a copy of the twenty-sixth edition, 1765, belonging to one of 
the early members. 

The " half-way covenant " was practiced in this church 
throughout Mr. Parsons 7 ministry ; and although objected to 
by his successor, and the cause of much difficulty at times, was 
still in vogue till the last years of Dr. Dana's ministry, when 
the custom happily went into disuse. To his day, also, the 
table was " fenced " at the communion ; Mr. Miltimore being 
the last who so conducted the service- in this house, although 
Mr. Milton continued the practice till his death.* 

Until the introduction of stoves the winter communion was 
omitted, as the usual services in connexion were numerous j but 
in 1818 a change was made from three to six times a year, the 
Saturday afternoon and Monday forenoon meetings were 
dropped, and only the fast on Tuesday continued, Mr. Wil- 
liams discontinued this also, the public relation of " experience n 
and likewise the usual confessions of those " under scandal;" 

*Mr. Milton's usual form was modelled after Mr. Murray's. In the close of his sermon he 
would say : from our subject we learn who have and who have not a right to come to this holy 
table. Surely they have no right here, who trample under their feet the blood of the ever- 
lasting Covenant and do despite to the spirit of grace-rrl do, therefore, solemnly enclose and 
fence this table, I do warn all unregenerated persons not to draw near ; I debar all who deny 
the imputation of sin and righteousness, for they can never have known the plague of their 
own hearts nor the need of a righteousness, answerable to the demands of the law — all Ar,min- 
ians, for they depend and seek to justify themselves by their own works: all Antinomian# who 
profess to receive him by faith, but in works deny him — all Arians and Socinians, &c. 



49 

a term of specific meaning. Formerly, instead of sending a 
" note " for public prayers, the request was made from the pew ; 
sometimes in language as curious as the subjects were various. 
Forty-five notes were on one occasion presented to Dr. Dana 
during the second singing ; leaving him but time to classify 
them for general allusion. 

Of one old custom, which some yet continue, I find little trace 
in this church ; I mean the preaching of politics on Thanks- 
givings and Fast days. This was common in the early times 
of New England, and partly a necessity ; for newspapers were 
hardly known, and the clergy almost the only educated men. 
And as Queen Elizabeth first tuned the pulpits when she would 
tune the people to a measure, so there was here a reason for 
political preaching. It was so during the Eevolution, when 
liberty demanded every voice. But afterwards, when parties 
were formed and measures of policy became the question, the 
inexpediency of clerical interference soon manifested itself. 
They lost ground and influence in consequence. " Unfortu- 
nately," says one, " for bands and surplices, federalism went 
down, and almost all the clergy happened to be on the losing 
side."* With scarce an exception, (during foreign war) my 
predecessors seem to have kept political subjects from the 
pulpit. 

Its many prayer meetings have been a characteristic of this 
church. " These, (says Dr. Dana) have been and are the 
strength and glory of the church." He has mentioned especially 
those of the females, which have always been numerous and 
well sustained. Once, the tradition is, an individual went to 
parish meeting expressly to oppose some measure, but voted for 
it ; and to a question of surprise answered, " What could one 
do, with so many women praying all around ?" In this connec- 
tion Mrs. Jane Greenleaf will be remenibered,as a shining but not 

w Withington's election sermon, 1831. 



50 

singular example of female piety. Mr. Josiah Plummer, I am 
told, used to spend the Tuesday fast in prayer, from nine A. M, 
till evening. That was formerly of special interest, and many 
came from the other societies, not the aged only, but the young. 
Such habits, so deeply religious, in the family and in public, 
indicate the source of the church's prosperity. God has 
remembered his covenant and blessed it. Rev. Jacob Little of 
Granville, Ohio, writes thus : " My grandfather, Enoch Little, 
was born again at the age of eleven under the preaching of 
Whitefield, while holding on to the pulpit railing to prevent 
being crushed away by the crowd, and joined the church when 
twenty-four — removed to Boscawen in 1773, but came twice a 
year to communion so long as he could ride, 70 miles — dying 
at eighty-eight, he left a great posterity, the most of whom 
have become devoted Christians. My father left nine children, 
all hopefully born again in tender years. Of my own six chil- 
dren, four obtained a hope at the ages of 22, 13, 12 and 10. 
I am so much a believer in the covenant that I trace the piety 
of the Boscawen Littles to Enoch, to Whitefield and to the old 
church at Newburyport ; and the testimony of all his descend* 
ants would show much more fully the fruits of your church." 
Other families show the same. Thirty-four ministers and mission- 
aries are known to have been reared here. One Elder's family 
has given four ministers to the church. And although there 
have been but few extensive revivals, the annual average of 
admissions to the church under the several pastors, has been 
about as follows : — 

Ministers. No. Years. Whole No- Annual Average < 



Parsons, 


30 


303 


10 


Murray, 


12 


88 


.7 


Dana, 


26 


208 


8 


Williams, 


6 


89 


15 


Proudfit, 


5* 


218 


39 


Stearns, 


14 


204 


15 


Present Pastor, 


6 


131 


22 



51 

To one subject more I should be ungrateful not to allude in 
this history. As a society this, (although others in town merit 
a like praise) has from the first been distinguished for kindness 
and attachment to its pastors. Each return of my predecessors 
has been welcomed with cordial greetings. When the younger 
of the two was to preach his first sermon after installation, a 
blind man, not knowing the time but fearing to be late, took 
his way early in the morning to church ; and to the remark of 
one who met him, " You must intend to love your new minis- 
ter *y — " Not more than the last," was his reply. Mr. Williams, 
when a candidate, was almost discouraged by the many who 
were lamenting Dr. Dana's departure, and is himself affection- 
ately and vividly remembered. " On this topic, (says Dr. 
Dana,) I can bear emphatic and delightful testimony," (concern- 
ing his own ministry). Mr. Parsons speaks in a similar way. 
Mr. Murray in his will earnestly invoked their kindness in 
behalf of his family, and provision was long made for them. 
And that this ancient virtue, connected as it is with a religious 

habit of thought, has not deteriorated, the present pastor can 
bear grateful record. 

(7.) HISTORY FROM 1829. 

Rev. John Proudfit, D. D., now Professor at Rutgers Col- 
lege, New Jersey, was installed October 4, 1827. In 1829 
alterations were made in the building. At first a " stone 
monumental church " was contemplated, but sacred attachments 
and the expense defeated the plan. Finally the inside was 
somewhat reduced in size, new galleries were put in, the square 
pews removed, the ceiling was lowered, the pulpit moved from 
the side, and the cenotaph erected. Shortly after, the " whis- 
pering gallery," so conspicuous a feature of the building at 
present, was accidentally discovered ; and is unsurpassed, it is 
said, unless by St. Paul's in London. 



52 

From the beginning of Dr. Proudfit's ministry to October, 
1832 ; but two communions passed without additions, sometimes 
considerable. In May 1831 he left home, owing to impaired 
health, and July 3d sailed for Europe, being absent till Jan- 
uary 1832. During this time the pulpit was supplied chiefly by 
Rev. Mr. Cheever, (now of New York) and Rev. Joseph Abbot, 
since of Beverly. A four days meeting was held June 21, at 
Mr. Milton's, as most central, conducted by Drs. Beecher, 
Wisner, Adams, Rev. Messrs Gumming (of Portland), Cleave- 
land, Blanchard and others ; and an extensive revival prevailed 
in town. In October 1831, forty-one united with this church 
at one time ; and in all, from August 1831 to October 10, 1832, 
the last communion at which the pastor was present, there were 
added ten by letter, by profession one hundred and twenty ; 
males thirty-eight, females eighty-two. Of these, however, 
twenty-nine asked dismissions October 9, owing to some recent 
difficulties ; and Mr. Cheever would, probably, have been 
settled in town, could a church have been obtained for him. 

His health having again failed him, Dr. Proudfit asked and 
January 24, 1833, obtained a dismission ; leaving attached 
friends, and highly regarded as a gentleman of liberal culture, 
a devoted and successful minister ; one who in the pulpit could 
instruct and edify, and had, also, what Dr. Watts calls " the 
happy talent of parlor preaching." 

For two years and a half the church was without a pastor ; 
an event particularly unhappy after so extensive a revival. 
One or two calls were given, and many candidates heard, 
without success. A few were disposed to change the govern- 
ment ; but the parish indefinitely postponed the matter — 
although the purpose was still cherished by some individuals, 
down to the settlement of the present pastor. One similar 
proposition had been made by Dr. Dana before his settlement, 
but then, alto, the church refused to loose from its happy 



53 

moorings ; and whatever may have been the predilections of 
his youth, Dr. Dana has ever since evinced a constant attach- 
ment to Presbyterian order and discipline. 

Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, D. D., now of Newark, N. J., was 
ordained September 16, 1835 ; dismissed October 14, 1849. 
A seven years' absence has not broken the attachments cemented 
during a fourteen years' ministry ; a ministry faithfully con- 
ducted from youth to riper years, and peaceful throughout — 
except so far as a ripple of controversy with a neighboring 
brother may once have disturbed its quiet flow. In 1849, 
another people having become acquainted with his merits, and 
induced him to accept their call, what have here been by many 
considered the sacred relations of pastor and people were at 
length severed. 

After his dismission, the pulpit was for a time supplied by 
Eev. James Gallaher, so well known at the West. Some 
of his sermons were novel in style and awakening ; he 
preached the truth plainly and forcibly ; and there was about 
the man himself " such earnestness and such a mass of it," in 
connection with some peculiarities, that many here and in town 
were brought under religious impressions. A considerable 
revival was the consequence. In conversing with and leading- 
enquirers, however, he seemed to have little facility. 

The beginning of November 1849, my first sermon in this 
house was preached, at the invitation of your committee. After 
another Sabbath I left, but was re-invited for the month of 
January ; it being desirable to have some one present, to con- 
verse with and direct the enquirers of this church. These 
services resulted in an invitation to become the pastor ; and I 
was installed as such May 1, 1850 — not, however, without the 
opposition of a minority, and a protest to Presbytery by a num- 
ber, many of whom, as in former instances I have mentioned, 
subsequently left the church. Neither their defection, however, 



54 

the grounds of which were various, nor the commencement, 
during the vacancy here, of a new enterprise under the lamented 
Emerson, a son of this church, at all impaired the numbers of 
this congregation ; more than double have since come for all 
who may have left. 

In the last six years, a considerable outstanding debt has 
been paid, a parsonage bought and paid for. And to-day we 
re-enter our amiable tabernacle, after thorough repairs, a 
considerable outlay, and a four months 7 absence, at peace and 
prosperous within, with no debt upon the parish, peaceably 
disposed, and it is pleasant to say on terms of amity with all 
our evangelical neighbors. At Dr. Withington's settlement, 
by the joint agency of himself and Dr. Dana, the feuds of the 
past were put under the vail of oblivion. The severe mother 
who for thirty years was distraining her daughter for rent, has 
long since laid aside her anger, and in the changes of time has 
come much to the daughter's way of thinking. And to her 
noble pastor, to whom poetry, literature, philosophy and 
theology, have each awarded a wreath, we are wont to turn as 
a valued friend and wise counsellor. In Mr. Lowell's church, 
out of which came part, also, of the original elements of this, 
Arminianism gradually developed into Unitarianism. Of course, 
while our views are so opposite, we can hold no ecclesiastical 
communion. Yet in former days some illustrious in Presbyte- 
rian history, Dr. Ashbel Green, Dr. Alexander, Mr-. Williams 
also, and Dr. Dana recently at their invitation, have there 
proclaimed " the words of this life." And as for ourselves, we 
can agree to differ ; and extend most cordially that friendli- 
ness to their persons, which we must conscientiously withhold 
from their creed ; in this professing ourselves to be th ereal 
maintainers of that only true Christian liberality, which is 
steady to the truth, but would differ without acrimony. 

In conclusion. After completing a full century of hallowed 



55 

service, our venerable sanctuary has now the honor of a 
re-dedication. This I suppose to be an event entirely singular. 
One who is good authority in matters of the kind, writes to me, 
" Where is there another which has been thus honored ? of 
what similar occasion is there a memorial in our commonwealth, 
or in New England V The instances certainly must be very 
few. if there are any ; and it furnishes one additional reason, 
why God's servants should " take pleasure in her stones, and 
favour the dust thereof." And now, what is our out-look upon 
the future ; " watchman, what of the night ?" what lessons and 
hopes may we gather from the past ? " The watchman said, 
the morning cometh, and also the night." First, our statistics 
show, of living church members, 366 ; a number greater, it 
would appear, than at any former period except for a short 
time in 1832, when it reached 365. The benevolent contribu- 
tions, also, have trebled since Mr. Williams' day. Although, 
therefore, churches have multiplied in the place, and the congre- 
gation is, no doubt, smaller than during the first half of the 
century, the church has not lost ground. 

Second, churches, like individuals, have a character, impressed 
upon them at the beginning of their history, by the men who 
founded and the circumstances which surrounded them. 
Cradled in a revival, a revival of sound doctrine as well as 
piety, and through its youth fostered by men deeply imbued 
with the spirit of that revival, and whose principles persecution 
helped to confirm, this church received a peculiar character. 
It has been perpetuated. The catechism is still a text-book in 
the Sabbath school, the doctrines of that revival are still 
preached, the prayer-meetings are still maintained, the charac- 
teristics of the church are much the same. And in each gene- 
ration there have been, there are still those whose piety has 
been of the olden sort, when the church was in " her first glory ;" 
" say not, the former days were better than these." We need 



56 

but the divine blessing upon the means of grace, continued as 
in the past, and our God shall still have here a seed to serve 
him ; in him is our hope and our confidence. 

Third, by this review we are taught to " hold fast that which 
is good," and not be seduced from the old foundations. Our 
form of government has stood the test of one hundred years. 
Providing all desirable safe-guards for individual rights by its 
courts of appeal, it has preserved a healthful discipline in the 
church, and brought her through many difficulties. And if at 
times it has stood in the way of agitators or those who were 
loose in doctrine, so much more reason do we find to love and 
cherish it. The old doctrines, too, have here commended them- 
selves by their fruits. The speculations of men have never 
entered this pulpit. And if the track of our history is one 
luminous with examples of a devout, prayerful, sterling yet 
benevolent piety, under the preaching of the old doctrines were 
they formed and trained. " Hold fast, therefore, the form of 
sound words ;" for your own sakes, for the sake of your chil- 
dren, for the sake of religion. The circumstances of the day, 
render this a point of peculiar importance. Your fathers made 
their protest against Arminianism. " The Arminian churches, 
it has been said, in that revival stood as a barrier to check the 
fanaticism^ which threatened the land " — they were the " ballast- 
chests " which restored the vessel's balance, when by the rush 
of passengers to the opposite side, a fatal disaster was impend- 
ing. Rather would I say, it was they that kept her down, and 
by long persistence caused the panic and the rush. It was 
churches like this and men like Parsons that restored the 
vessel's trim. 

Of certain philosophic subtleties which prevailed early in 
this century, a divine of note attributes the arrest, to u the 
-power that had been left among the unsophisticated churches 
by Whitefield and the Tennents f their preventive, although 



57 

unsuspecting antagonism. And to the various errors and the 
abounding ungodliness and wickedness of the present day, let 
us offer the same " preventive antagonism." Such has been 
the position and mission of this church from the beginning. A 
controversial or antagonistic attitude in any other way than that 
alluded to, this church has never assumed. The only weapons 
of her armory are the doctrines of the G-ospel, taught in their 
simplicity and plainness in her Sabbath school and sanctuary, 
and the prayer-meeting. These are her burnished weapons. 
It has been the preaching of these doctrines, and the faith and 
illustration of these doctrines in her members, that have alone 
given her standing among the churches of Christ. 

Finally. There was in Sparta the following custom. The 
inhabitants, on a certain day, divided themselves into three 
companies, the old, the middle aged and the young ; and each 
company had its speaker. The old then said to the middle 
aged: 

" We have been in days of old, 
Wise, generous, brave and bold " — 

to which they responded, 

" That which in days of yore ye wore, 
We at the present moment are." 

In turn the young now reply : 

" Hereafter at our country's call, 
We promise to surpass you all." 

My young friends, the fathers of this church were men of 
vigorous and exemplary piety ; and if in any measure their 
successors have fallen behind, I trust they have not been entirely 
unworthy of this lineage. The post of duty will soon be yours; 
and what this church is to be in coming years, it is for you to 
decide. Aim, then, by a diligent improvement of your priv- 
ileges, and with fervent prayers for grace to help you, to sur- 
pass them all ; to make this church what it was in " her first 
glory" not only, but tenfold better. I commend to you the 
words of John Higginson in 1663, as still good and appropriate: 
" If any man amongst us make religion as twelve and the world 

8 



58 

as thirteen, let him know he hath neither the spirit of a true 
New England man, nor yet of a sincere Christian." 

And now, Lord God of the fathers, thee we invoke for their 
children, that their heart may be perfect with thee, to walk in 
thy statutes, and to keep thy commandments ; and that thou 
would'st maintain the cause of thy people at all times, as the 
matter shall require, and hearken unto them in all that they 
may call for unto thee. Amen. 



MINISTERS THAT HAVE SPRUNG FROM THIS CHURCH. 

Rev. Nathaniel Noyes* Maine. 

" Caleb Jewett * Gorham, Me. 

" Paul Coffin, D. D. * Maine: 

" Thomas Peirce * Maine. 

" Stephen Sewell * Elder, voice failed, preached at times. 

" Silas Moody * Maine. 

" Jonathan Atkinson * Limerick, Me. 

" James Morse, D. D.,* Episcopal, Newburyport. 

" Jeremiah Noyes.* 

" Eben Coffin* Brunswick. 

" Jonathan Greenleaf, D. D., Brooklyn. 

" Daniel D. Tappan * New Hampshire. 

" Jacob Eastman, Methuen. 

11 William Horton, Episcopal. 

" George Noyes, D. D., Professor at Cambridge. 

11 John March * Belleville. 

" Warren Nichols, Home Missionary. 

" M. A. H. Niles * Congregationalist. 

" Thomas M. Clark, D. D., Bishop of Rhode Island. 

" John Pike, Rowley. 

" William C. Dana, Charleston, S. , C. 

" Daniel T. Smith, D. D., Professor at Bangor. 

" William P. Lunt, D. D. ? Quincy. 

" William C. Greenleaf, Springfield, 111. 

" Isaac W. Wheelwright, never settled. 

" Rufus W. Clark, East Boston. 

" William Hills * the West. 

11 George Clark, Episcopal, Georgia. 

" Samuel Clark, Episcopal, New Jersey. 

" Joseph Noyes, New Jersey. 

" John E. Emerson, Newburyport. 

" Elias Nason, Natick. 

" Roger S. Howard, Episcopal, Bangor. 

" Francke Williams, M. D. 



APPENDIX. 



One hundred years having elapsed in July since the building 
of the church, extensive repairs were commenced under an 
intelligent and judicious committee, viz. : Isaac H. Boardman, 
Benjamin Harrod, William Pritchard, John N. Cushing and 
William Graves, Esqs. July 16, a " corner stone " was laid, 
with appropriate services, none having been found under the 
building. The house was re-opened November 28th, the day 
after Thanksgiving, and re-dedicatory services held. The fol- 
lowing hymns were written for the occasion. 

HYMN, BY GEORGE W. CAMPBELL. 

A hundred rolling years have fled, 
Since the true hearted, honored dead 
This temple reared, where they might meet, 
To sit and learn at Jesus' feet. 

His voice inspiring urged them on, 
Whose name is graved on yonder stone ; 
His stirring voice is hushed, and here 
He sweetly sleeps, till Christ appears. 

Pastors, whose lips the altar fire 
Had touched, their accents to inspire, 
Here warned of Sin's destroying sway, 
"Allured to Heaven, and led the way." 

Their virtues let us emulate, 
Who, sternly good and simply great, 
Eowed here, imploring grace divine, 
But made their hearts a holier sarins, 



60 

Still may we guard with jealous care 
The truths the fathers held so dear ; 
Their Savior serve, like them press on 
And sing at last, the vict'ry won. 

Ever upon this sacred height, 
May Christians keep the beacon bright; 
Still may it light the heavenly way, 
Till the glad dawn of endless day. 



HYMN, BY HON. GEORGE LUNT 

Behold! the house of God ! 

Our grateful toil is done ; 
These courts a hundred years have trod 

The father and the son. 

Within its sacred walls, 
Once more each reverend head, 

Each sainted form the heart recalls, 
Fathers and mothers dead. 

They wrought with pious hands, 

In God they put their trust, 
And like his word their memory stands, 

To consecrate their dust. 

Yet, though the house be drest 

With honors newly won, 
While they from earthly labor rest, 

Our work is but begun. 

Before us still their race, 

By bright example given, 
Their faith to keep, to win their grace, 

And meet them safe in Heaven ! 



Of ministers from a distance, there were present Rev. Br* 
Proudfit of New Brunswick, N. J., Dr. Stearns of Newark, 
Dr. Yermilye of the Collegiate Dutch Reformed Church in 
New York, Dr. Worcester of Salem, Dr. Perry of Groveland, 
Dr. Chickering of Portland, Rev. Messrs. Kimball, Fitz and 
Southgate of Ipswich, Pike of Rowley, Tenney of Byfield, 



61 

Prince of Georgetown, Herbert of West Newbury, Thompson 
of Amesbury ; with those in town. 

In the afternoon addresses were made. The venerable Dr. 
Dana, now 85 years of age, opened his remarks with an affect* 
ing allusion to the occasion ; and then addressed his audience 
in words which his years made impressively solemn : 

" Once more," he said, u he was permitted to stand before this dear 
church and to address his dear friends. His feelings it was difficult for 
him to explain, or for us to conceive. The occasion called back his mind 
to scenes long passed — to periods of great interest — and found him once 
again in the midst of a beloved people, with an assurance of their continued 
regard and kind sympathies. The seasons he had enjoyed with this church, 
when as their pastor he was with them in their joys and their sorrows, in 
sickness and in health, were this day renewed ; and memories were awak- 
ened of a portion of life which would never be forgotten. This beloved 
people had always been the subject of his prayers. While he had enjoyed 
this occasion, his mind had been deeply impressed with one thought ; the 
vast importance of properly hearing the gospel preached. By way of putting 
out some particular thought to illustrate the importance of this matter, he 
would look to the great number who have rightfully heard the gospel 
preached in this church. Who could doubt that they were now joined to 
the angels in their happy worship ; and how many who now live will, by 
and by, find themselves in the same holy and happy regions of bliss. He 
would have his hearers ponder these thoughts and pray over them. He 
would suggest a few thoughts as to the proper manner of preaching and 
hearing the gospel. 1st. He would have the minister fix his undivided 
attention upon the Word of Life, and select the purest topics for his sermons, 
the character of God— the undying love of our Savior — the mercy of our 
Redeemer — the everlasting happiness of the Christian and the equally 
undying misery of the sinner, beyond the grave. Topics of great interest 
like these should demand his fixed attention, and be presented in a manner 
to command the hearers. It was a beautiful impression that the angels of 
heaven were present in our worship ; he would have in our ministrations a 
devoutness that would be acceptable to them. God is always present with 
us, his searching eye scans our hearts, and he would that this presence 
should never be forgotten, and never be without its influence. 2d. He 
would impress upon the minister the importance of faith, and the import- 
ance of inculcating in the hearts of his hearers a corresponding implicit 
faith in his doctrines. By these he did not mean a blind belief and bigotry 
in all things. It was the duty of all to examine carefully and in the right 
spirit. When the hearer is satisfied that the preacher declares the truth, it 
is his duty to receive such truths with implicit faith. He knew that some 
were luke-warm, and although they had faith, and the doctiines inculcated 
were clear to them, yet they would go away and find fault with the preach- 



er. They make a Bad mistake, to their own great injury and to the discour- 
agement of the preacher. 3d. The importance of self-application. He was 
bold to say that a vast amount of good was lost through this neglect. A 
preacher may be fervent and zealous, he may bestow much care upon his 
sermons and pains upon his preaching, his doctrine may be pure, and his 
truths weighty, yet if he fails in application, his hearers go away without 
benefit. He would entreat them, if they would not lose their labor, to give 
their sermons an application. 

We should come to the house of God with the desire and purpose to gain 
good. He was glad to know that many did come with the full belief and 
expectation that here they would receive good, and receive advantage in 
the way of religion, and progress in the pathway to Heaven. God treats 
them according to their purposes and actions. But alas ! for the multitude 
who come without such feelings, and who gain no real good, they too are 
treated according to their merits. He wouldhave a full attendance at every 
service, and would desire that no one should depart without a blessing. It 
would do no hearer any harm to attend every sermon. What a new air it 
would create could it be so. What a new kind of people we should have. 
How pleasant for the preacher to come with this impression upon his heart. 
He would have him reflect that the sermon he listens to may be the last he 
will ever hear. He would have him make the consideration and the purity 
of the heart a preparation for eternity. The hearing of the Gospel to be truly 
profitable must be attended with prayer. To go to God in prayer would 
greatly aid in hearing and speaking his divine truths. The most earnest 
listeners come from their bended knees. No one could tell how much aid 
this custom would be to us. It would lighten the labor of the preacher, 
give to his tongue unusual eloquence in the unfolding of the gospel, and 
open the understanding and hearts of his people. If all could be thus be 
prepared what a living hope could we have. 

He congratulated the church on its prosperity — a prosperity dear to his 
heart — and closed with an earnest entreaty to all to direct their thoughts to 
the welfare of their souls, and prepare themselves for a glorious immor- 
tality." 

After the close of Br. Dana's remarks, Dr. Peoudfit spoke 
as follows : — 

I am happy to be with you my friends, to-day, and join you in thankful 
commemoration of the goodness of God to this church. The happy years 
of pastoral labors and social joys which I spent among this people — none 
happier in the retrospect of the past, none happier, I may add, among the 
anticipations of the future, on this side Heaven — come up before my mem- 
ory. I came among you little more than a boy in years, and quite destitute 
of pastoral experience; I succeeded to men eminent in the Church of God 
for every ministerial endowment; how kindly you bore with my youth and 
immaturity, how cordially you sustained me, how generously you appreci- 



63 

ated me, I can never forget. Nor can I forget, nor you, the rich blessing of 
God which rested on our mutual relation. I scattered the seed of the Spirit 
with a weak and trembling hand, but lo ! it sprang up before my eyes and 
ripened quickl}' to fruit ; and my own hand was permitted to gather much 
of it into the garner of God. These were the first years of my ministry ; 
we cannot, I know, judge of the consequences of our own labor, but as to 
visible result, they were far the most fruitful. Your pastor has given you 
the statistics : two hundred and eighteen added to this church in those five 
years — an annual average of thirty-nine. This is something for a man to 
remember with joy so long as life shall last, the traces of which can never 
be obliterated, but like an incision on a living tree, will grow deeper, 
broader and more vivid while the soul itself shall live. No doubt much of 
this was fruit ripened from seed sown long before. The perpetual culture 
of the Christian ministry is necessary to its results. [ am willing to share 
my joy with those who sowed before me and those who reaped after me. 
He that soweth and he thai reapeth shall rejoice together. No mean rivalry, 
no invidious competition over the works and achievements of Christian love, 
should ever exist; but mutual joy, joy together. Yet I do love to dwell 
with thankful arid wondering joy on these remembrances of my early min- 
istry — that period of quiet, visible, and abundant growth and fruitfulness. 
It was the first thrust of my sickle into the Spiritual harvest, and it yielded 
the largest and fullest sheaf. If there is somewhat of li glorying" in the 
recollection, I do not suppress it. Who would not rather — who, at least, 
that looks at the whole course of this immortal existence, would not rather 
convert one to God than found a State or discover a continent ? Who would 
not rather "shine as the stars forever and ever," than flash and glitter for 
a brief hour across the lower atmosphere of this world'? If it is the boldest 
ambition, it is the purest. We may indulge its highest aspirations without 
fear of selfish taint. God has enjoined it. God manifest in the flesh looked 
to its gratification as to " the joy that was set before him." May he cause 
it to burn in my soul, and in the souls of all his ministers with an everlasting 
flame. 

The presence of these beloved and honored brethren, Drs. Dana, With- 
ington and Dimmick, with the remembrance of others departed, add a 
solemn interest to this scene. We have preached together, prayed together, 
deliberated together, held an alternate weekly lecture, and a common 
monthly concert ; and not one word of unkind dispute or altercation has 
ever passed between us. This is a pleasant recollection to-day. We have 
had differences, should doubtless have them now, and that too upon matters 
which we deem important; but not important enough to cause the severing 
of Christian ties or the interruption of ministerial intercourse. 

Among the thoughts which press for utterance at this hour, some of the 
most solemn are those which are awakened by the very name of this festi- 
val. A hundred years ! The world has seen but some fifty-eight of these 
periods, and will not, probably, see so many more. A hundred years ! 
Giant strides of time they are, these centuries. Time will not take many 



64 

such to reach the end and witness the completion of u the mystery of God. 7 -* 
One hundred years back, and this powerful nation was not founded. The 
venerable church in which we stand is older than our republic by some 
quarter of a century. While these 100 years have been rolling away, what 
vast changes have taken place in the comparative power and political rela- 
tions of the nations, in the condition of science, the application of material 
forces, the visible boundaries of the kingdom of God! No century, since time 
began his march to the song of the morning stars and the shouts of the sons 
of God, has witnessed such changes, such progress, such amazing develop- 
ments as the last. The next will be still more memorable. The prophetic 
voice tells us that events will crowd upon each other with increasing rapid- 
ity as the world grows old and the end approaches. A hundred years 
hence ! Who will attempt to forecast what shall then have taken place % 
One thing we may look upon as certain ; at the expiration of that period, 
you and I will not be here. Your pastor's retrospect has shown that four 
generations have passed away since this century began. "Four generations 
of church members and of hearers ! Four generations of believers and of 
unbelievers ! That is a solemn reflection. Yes, if another centennial cel- 
ebration shall be held in this house, you and I will not be here. Not here, 
but where ? Where 1 0, it is the great end of the ministry, it is the great 
business of life to get that question happily answered. Where? Let it 
never cease to agitate our souls till we can say with humble faith, " When 
I go hence and am no more seen, I shall be at home with the'Lord. Neither 
death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, shall separate me from 
the love of Christ/' 

All that meets the eye this morning, as compared with former years, is 
changed. The children have grown up into men and women. I. look over 
the pews in vain for many beloved faces of former days — faces beaming 
with intense and thoughtful interest in the great themes of the Gospel. 
They are not here. Other occupants hold these pews, other feet walk in 
these aisles, other forms fill yonder choir, other hands touch the organ, 
other voices resound from these walls. 

But amidst all these changes there is something here that is not changed, 
that will never change. The faith that founded this church, the love which 
like a holy bond has held it together — the spirit of Christian liberality and 
activity which has caused it to abound in all holy works and Christian 
charities, (Dr. Cornelius once told me that the largest collection he ever 
took up for Foreign Mission, was from this church), all these, I hope and 
believe, are here yet. " The Church," said an eloquent preacher fourteen 
centuries ago, " not the place, but the character, spirit, life." That is the 
church which stands here unchanged to-day. The material church decays 
and is repaired, grows antiquated and is re-fashioned, falls down and is 
re-built. But the Spiritual Church cannot decay, and undergoes no changes 
but by growth, progress, expansion. Its materials are " living stones," it 
is " a spiritual house." It cannot change except by a continual approxima- 
tion to that form of perfect grandeur and beauty in which it will stand forth 



at last — -every renewed soul from the creation to the end. being inserted just 
in its right place. 

There is not amo»« be&utixui. illustration or this immortality 01 the life of 
die Spirit than the const l v. nutual love of those who are related, 03 spirit- 
ual ties and sympathies — especially by those which unite pa pastor to his 
people. This truth, in fact, first struck my mind in a real and living way 
as exemplified by yourselves. From my first coming here to this day, I 
have continued to receive from this people proofs of constant, generous 
Christian love j now in one form, now in another, but always beautiful, 
always precious for the spirit which prompted them. Far above all others, 
I prize and am thankful for the prayers which have here been offered up 
for me. Paul says to his Christian friends, " I have all and abound. I am 
full." But amidst all this abundance and sufficiency, he begs a continu- 
ance of their prayers. I have often felt in my own soul and seen in my 
house what I believed, and now beliere, to be the blessed virtue of the 
prayers which have been offered for me and mine in this church. Brethren, 
pray for us. And for myself, so long as I shall tread the path to the throne 
of grace, " my former flock " will be remembered in my intercessions. 

If time and premonition had permitted me to take a subject to-day, it 
would have been the influences and benefits of the pastoral relation ; not its 
benefits to the people only, though these, I believe, are beyond all appreci- 
ation. How much of our American liberty, with the solid intellectual and 
moral basis on which it rests, is due to the Christian pulpit and preacher, I 
will not attempt to decide. Certain it is, that liberty in the true republican 
idea of it, has no existence on earth but in connection with a free gospel 
ministry. It is not, therefore, extravagant to suppose that it is really an 
emanation from that of which it is only found as a concomitant. Since I 
have ceased from the pastorate and ministered occasionally to many differ- 
ent congregations, I have been more powerfully struck with this fact than 
ever before. Often, as 1 have looked from the pulpit over the assembled 
congregation, it has occurred to me that the spectacle is unique,and strictly 
American. Nowhere does it meet the eye out of our own country. I am 
not insensible to the rich and beautiful culture — Christian culture, of the 
old world. But it is. in its finest aspects, an individual affair. It is the 
general aspect of the American congregation which characterises and dis- 
tinguishes it. Intelligence, competency, self-reliance, reverence for the 
word of God combined with a disposition to scrutinize everything that 
claims its sanction, this is what seems to me to be the congregational ex- 
pression of the assemblies in our American churches. Now these are the 
very habits, mental and moral, which go to make up a freeman — thoughtful, 
earnest, fearing God, and therefore fearing nothing else, bowing with awful 
reverence to truth and law, but looking with bold and searching scrutiny 
into the things which claim his homage under these venerable names. 
The disposition to question and investigate, if it do not stagnate into skeptic 
cism, is favorable to freedom and progress. This disposition is constantly 
cherished by the Christian ministry, which is ever throwing out great and 
9 



66 

solemn thoughts and themes to occupy and arouse the soul, and withal ex- 
horting the hearers to " prove all things/' to "search the Scriptures daily 
whether these things are so," and to " ask wisdom of God who giveth to all 
men liberally.'"' He who is imbued with such sentiments and formed to 
such habits, cannot surrender his rights to despotic power, nor his conscience 
to priestly dictation. The truth has made him free. And, therefore, truth 
and freedom are the very constituents of his life. We talk of education, 
and certainly it is a great and admirable thing in all its parts as conducive to 
its true end. But here is the very bloom and culmination of all true edu- 
cation — the teaching and training of the house of God. 

Who can estimate what this city owes to its pulpits and its pastors'? Its 
quiet streets, its happy homes, its genial hospitality, and all the rich and 
various culture which makes it what it is — is it not largely fed and kept 
alive by influences which emanate from this place and others like it. What 
a rapid deterioration and disorganization would follow if its pulpits were 
silent, the sweet rest of the Lord's day disused and all the wholesome re- 
straints and pure charities suspended, which have their centre in tho house 
of God, and all animated and directed by the Christian ministry. 

These, however, are its present visible and to some extent temporal re- 
sults. " They are," in the fine language of Robert Hall, "the flowers 
which Christianity strews along her path on her way to immortality." The 
noblest triumphs of the pastor are in the realm of the Spirit. His most en- 
dearing works will only come to light when time is no longer. His proper 
work is upon and within the sonl. Other men work on perishable materials, 
and for objects which lie directly and properly within the limits of lime. 
Their work has indeed, (as all human work must have), relations to our 
future and endless life, but these are incidental. The pastor's direct 
business is to '• save souls from death." All other results and influences 
of his work, important and noble as they are, are incidental and accessory. 
His proper work is to unfold and press home in all its boundless capabilities 
of illustration and application, that "word of life," whereby it even now 
comes to pass that those who are in their graves do hear the voice of the Son 
of God and come forth. Here lies the true glory and power of the Christian 
ministry. Here the weakness of man and the power of God stand forth in 
the most wonderful combination. In this way it is that " a worm doth 
thresh the mountains," and God says to his servant as of old, " thou art my 
battle-axe and weapons of war." Luther once wrote to a desponding friend 
thus : " Be of good cheer ! I have lately seen two miracles. This is the 
first : I saw the stars and the sky and that vast and magnificent firmament 
in which the Lord has placed them. I could nowhere discover the columns 
on which the Master has supported this immense vault, and yet the heavens 
did not fall. And here is the second : I beheld thick clouds hanging above 
us like a vast sea. I could neither perceive ground on which they reposed, 
nor cords by which they were suspended ; and yet they did not fall upon 
us, but saluted us rapidly and fled away." 

But we see a much greater miracle, (if the physical and the spiritual 



admit of a comparison), when a soul dead in sin, suddenly shows the power 
of an omnipotent breath passing over it, is agitated by new fears, stirred up 
to longings, hopes, joys and aspirations which it felt not before — is not this 
a new life ? And is not life more wonderful than matter % 0, if we should 
see a cold corpse begin to breathe and move, if the dust which has slept 
for near a century beneath this pulpit should come forth in living forms be- 
fore our eyes, we would not witness a more palpable display of almighty 
power than when " life from God " enters into a soul dead in trespasses and 
sins. This far surpasses Luther's miracle of the unpillared firmament 
draped with clouds and studded with stars. These are miracles, doubtless, 
of which Christ spoke when he said, " Greater works than these shall he do 
that believeth on me, because I go unto my Father. 5 ' Such miracles we 
have seen here, my friends. They have never ceased from this church. 
How easy it would be to recall instances which occurred while I was with 
you ! I have seen tears flowing down the cheeks of those whose levity and 
utter indifference to religion but a little before, amazed and distressed 
me. I have seen men whom I regarded as of a singularly impassive tem- 
peramentj men utterly wedded to this world as if there were no other, 
sometimes men of decidedly skeptical turn, pass into a new phase of char- 
acter, as it were, and show the simplicity, the warm love and ready trust of 
a true spiritual childhood. The faintest whisper of divine truth sometimes 
sufficed to evoke into existence this new world of thoughts and emotions. 
"This is ihe finger of God," have I said to myself when I have seen such 
things. 

And now look at this aspect of the pastoral work here, as it was presented 
to you in your pastor's ''Retrospect/'' this morning. Over four thousand 
souls have passed through this church on their way to eternity. 0, what a 
greeting will every faithful pastor whose labor went to the making up of 
this aggregate receive from those who were led to Christ by his ministry ! 
He will there see faces which here below he only knew wet with tears or 
wasted with sickness or racked by pain, but there glowing with unwonted 
beauty and heavenly joy and love. Methinks some of those " shining 
ones" will meet their pastor as he is struggling out of the swellings of Jor- 
dan, the first to welcome him. Will they not know him 1 Will they not, 
of all the redeemed, sustain peculiar relations to him as endless ages shall 
roll away 1 And when he shall present them before the throne, saying, 
'.' Behold I, and the children whom thou has given me ;" will not their 
voices be first in the heavenly chorus which shall re-echo the approving 
sentence, ''• Well done ! good and faithful servant." 

Whether we look at the present or the future, the pastor is himself the 
subject of some of the richest influences and blessings of this relation. The 
studies, the duties ; the whole work and life of the Christian minister afford 
as perfect and complete a discipline and development of the whole man as 
could possibly be devised. He must be a man of study and of thought. He 
must refresh, enrich and invigorate his mind by large and various reading, 
if he would not have his emptiness instead of his " proficiency appear to 



68 

ail. ?; No intellectual soil is so rich as to yield two or three crops a week 
without liberal and skilful tillage. The drain of the ministry is incessant 
and exhausting, and must be met by constant acquisition. Then there is no 
danger that his faculties should "fust in him unused," or his "thoughts 
want air and spoil like bales unopened to the sun." He must be a student, 
but he cannot be a recluse. He has occasion to use all he can learn as fast, 
as he can learn it — generally, in fact, a little faster. He must study 1he 
human heart, too, and the philosophy of teaching and applying truth. After 
all, he will soon find that all he can do of himself is nothing ; and that will 
send him to God for skill, strength and success. Here is a discipline of all 
the faculties and all the virtues. A Christian heart will, it is true, render 
any course of life such a discipline. But certainly its widest sphere, its 
strongest incentives are found in the ministry. And as it goes its blessed 
round, he finds that like all other charity, it is u twice blessed. ;: When he 
went to teach, he often learns : he receives more than he gives. The most 
touching and powerful discourse on Christian resignation which I ever heard, 
was from a poor old woman in yonder alms-house. I was speaking to her 
of Christian submission under trials and humiliations. fi 0, sir," said she, 
" the goodness of God! That is what I think of — the goodness of God; that 
he should put it into the hearts of people to build such a comfortable home 
as this, and provide food and clothes and a warm fire in this dreadful weather, 
for such a poor creature as I am." I once heard M. Monod preach 
on u Christian Contentment." But the eloquent preacher did not teach 
my heart half so powerfully as the broken accents of this child of God, 
uttering words of thankfulness and shedding tears of joy where I thought 
of exhorting her to no higher virtue than patience and submission. The 
eloquence of the pulpit is, no doubt, a fine affair ; but the eloquence of un- 
complaining poverty, the eloquence of the Christian mother when she says, 
il 0, I have lost my only son, the only hope and support of my old age-^-but 
it is the Lord. 0, 1 will try to say. " Good is the will of the Lord;" — the 
eloquence of the contrite heart, smitten with a sense of sin and revealing its 
intolerable anguish through the workings of the countenance ; the eloquence 
of holy joy when the soul has found its Savior — this eloquence without 
words often conveys truth which no words can utter. These are some of the 
experiences of the pastor. They are brought to my mind, as I look around 
me this morning and pass once more through these familiar scenes. I could 
go from spot to spot in this town and say, " Here I saw the power of truth 
to awaken the careless sinner; there, like a beam from heaven, I saw ' it 
give hope and peace to the troubled spirit; there it conquered poverty and 
pain, there cheered the weariness of long sickness or lighted up the cham- 
ber of death with the radiance of opening heaven ; here I learned, how in 
total seclusion from the world, a praying and believing soul could keep 
alive the warmest and largest charity, and powerfully influence the affairs 
of the world through him who made and governs it, just as one who has the 
ear and confidence of an earthly monarch often exerts a power over ihe 
realm far greater than that of the bustling visible actors in the scene : here 



60 

I learned how Christian love could make a man cheerful and active without 
a ray of sunlight ; when I saw a member of this church utterly blind, yet 
unweariedly busy in doing good, going forth with his staff on Monday morn- 
ing to look after the seekers of truth and report anxious souls to the minister, 
and from that to Saturday night having nothing to do but to comfort the sick 
and sorrowful, to look after the poor, to converse with inquirers, to collect 
the incomes of charitable institutions, When I have gone on pastoral visits 
to the sick and afflicted, I have heard that well known voice in prayer as I 
approached their dwellings. Such scenes, such living examples teach a 
man as no books, or occasions or teachers can, that Christianity is a real 
and living thing. The man of science must go to nature and look upon her 
actual phenomena and living forms, if he would gain exact and satisfactory 
knowledge. So the things of the Spirit must be studied in those wondrous 
phases which in the spiritual progress and development of the church of 
God display their power. And to this comparative study of the word of 
God and the heart of man, the life of the Christian pastor affords the most 
favorable opportunities. 

It is sometimes affirmed that this relation between pastor and people is 
less strong and sacred, and therefore less enduring than formerly. But 
certainly the history of this congregation discloses no such fact nor tenden- 
cy. In the last century you have had seven pastors. Dr. Dana was twenty* 
six years pastor, and only left to assume the presidency of Dartmouth Col- 
lege. Mr. Williams remained with you till death. For myself, when after 
four years the state of my health induced me to resign, the elders with one 
voice besought me not to mention the thing again, and offered me an assist- 
ant, to be nominated by me and paid by themselves. This arrangement 
continued for some months. And when I felt obliged to persist in my 
former resolution, you publicly declined to accept my resignation, and left 
me at liberty to go where I would for the recovery of my health, offering to 
take care of yourselves, and desiring that the relation between us might stand 
unaltered. These resolutions, signed in behalf of the church by the venera- 
ble Deacon Moody, were enclosed to me, accompanied by expressions of 
generosity and affectionate sympathy, in a letter from General Crashing, 
and signed in behalf of the society by Caleb Crashing, Thomas M. Clark and 
M. P. Parish. And when after several months absence I was obliged to 
renew my request, your love to me did not cease, but, as I have said before, 
continued to reach me in the shape of kind and valuable mementos, some 
of which it was long before I could trace to the individual donor — so gener* 
ous, so self -for getting was the love which prompted them. It is impossible 
to speak or think of such things without deep emotions of admiration and 
gratitude. And for the other congregations of this town, here is Dr. With- 
ington, who after a pastorate of forty years could not persuade his people to 
let him retire last summer, but was cortstrained to remain. Here is Di\ 
Dimmick, too, who has been pastor of the Titcomb street church for thirty- 
seven years; Dr. Morse was rector of St. Paul's church for thirty-nine years, 
and the venerable Miltimore and Milton only laid down their pastor's crook 



To 

in death, having tended the same flocks, the former for nearly twenty-five', 
the latter for forty-three years. Whatever blight, therefore, may have iallen 
on other parts of " the minister's paradise," this corner of it, at least, seems 
to be as green, fruitful and snugly sheltered as ever. Among all the details 
of the last century to which we listened this morning; not one instance oc- 
curred of a violent disruption of the pastoral tie. And your history proves 
that this policy is as wise as it is magnanimous and noble. This church has 
not only been a strong and prosperous, and generally, a united church, but 
it has been a mother of churches. Whereas, no congregation that has pur- 
sued a mean, exacting, capricious, unfeeling policy towards their ministers, 
has failed to be smitten with barrenness or the spirit of disunion, as the pun- 
ishment for their sin. Christ loves his ministers, with all their imperfec- 
tions. He make common cause with them, (Luke 10 : 16.) Paul tells the 
Christians of Philippi that their noble and exuberant generosity to him was 
u a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God;" and that they should not 
suffer for it. " My God shall supply all yonr need according to his riches 
in glory by Christ Jesus." 

One impression made upon me by the appearance of the congregation. I 
cannot leave unexpressed. " Instead of the fathers God has taken the chil- 
dren." The body of this church still consists of those who have been nur- 
tured in her own bosom. Here is a delightful proof, at once, of God's 
fidelity to his covenant, and of the efficacy of pastoral labor and of pious 
family culture. The family of one of my elders, (my dear and honored 
friend, Thomas M. Clark, Esq.,) has yielded four ministers to the church. 
May the dew of God's blessing ever rest on the baptized youth of this 
church ! Are any of them without the sacred enclosure of her communion^ 
May they begin this century by falling into that line of march which is ever 
passing on through the earthly into the heavenly temple. God forbid that 
any of them should linger behind and be left forever with u them who are 
without." 

And now, let me express the pleasure it gives me this morning to see my 
young friend, Mr. Vermilye, whose honored father was one of my earliest 
friends in Christ, ministering to you in holy things. May God greatly bless 
you both in this sacred and delightful relation, and make it fruitful alike to 
you and to him of all the influences and blessings of which I have spoken. 

And as my eye rests on that monument let me recall the way in which it 
came there, as it may hereafter be a tradition of some interest. I was call- 
ing one evening on Mr. Bartlett, when about to leave for an absence of 
some weeks. He told me that he had heard Whitefield when a boy, and 
had never forgotten the impression made upon him by his preaching. He 
expressed a desire to have a suitable monument erected to his memory in 
this church. He asked if I Would look after the matter and employ an emi- 
nent artist to do the work. I inqaired how much he was willing it should 
cost. li On that point," he replied, "I leave you entirely at liberty. Let it 
be something worthy of a great and good man." That monument, designed 
by Strickland and executed by Strothers, is the result. I used the liberty 



71 

he gave me moderately. Had it cost ten times as much he would, I have 
no donbt, have paid it cheerfully. When the artist presented his demand, 
Mr. Bartlett gave his check for a hundred dollars above the amount. When 
I was in England the congregations of Tottenham Court and the Tabernacle 
intimated a desire to have his remains removed to England. But when I 
told them what Mr. Bartlett had done, they said that if an American gen- 
tleman was willing to give three hundred pounds to do honor to his memory, 
America was well entitled to his remains. 

May God be ever rearing in this church nobler and more endearing mon- 
uments than of marble or executed by human art. May peace be within 
these walls and prosperity within this palace of our God. And if a centen- 
nial festival is held here in 1956, may you and I look upon it from those 
heavenly seats whose blessed occupants are ever beholding in the church 
on earth w ' the manifold wisdom of God." 

(Circumstances have prevented our receiving a corrected 
copy of Dr. Stearns 7 very touching and impressive address.) 
He spoke, in substance, as follows : — 

Dr. Stearns said there was something very impressive and solemn in the 
consideration of the onward movement of time. An act once performed 
could never be undone, a sin once committed could never be swept away — 
there was no retreat from the past, no calling back of time. If we make a 
mistake and commit a wrong we may repent of it, and by the blessing of 
God, may be forgiven, but the record of the past must remain. You that 
are old men and women can never be young again. You that are in mid- 
dle life can never again enjoy youth. You that are in youth can never re- 
turn to childhood, can never claim the promise, if you have not ahead}- — 
u They that seek me early shall find me." We gather age as years roll on, 
unmindful of the fleeting days. I am reminded of this fact by the scene 
which lies before me, which carries me back in memory over twenty-two 
years, when I stood in this desk. As near as I can fix the time, it is twenty- 
two years and two weeks since I preached my first sermon from this pulpit. 
It was the first sermon 1 ever preached to a vacant congregation. I came 
here with two sermons in my pocket and one unfinished in my desk, upon 
an engagement of two Sabbaths. After that service, to my great surprise, I 
received a call from this society to become their pastor. I shrunk from the 
pastorate of this large congregation, and then you will recollect there were 
some difficulties about Presbyterianism. I was away about a year when I 
again came among you. Twenty-one years ago the 16th September, I stood 
in this desk and received the solemn charge. Since that time what changes 
have taken p'ace. If it were not for the presence of my two predecessors 
in this desk, to keep me company.I should feel old. A week after my removal 
to this place, as I was visiting one of my parishioners, I was met at the gate 
by a little girl who said she had come to welcome her new pastor. To-day 
I am the guest of that girl who has grown to womanhood, and is blessed 
with a happy family. He held in his hand the catalogue of the Sabbath 



72 



school, published two years after his settlement. He knew the names and 
the ages, and if be should read them, he thought his hearers would smile 
more than they were wont to do in that sacred place. He then pointed oca 
the seats of many of his parishioners, recalling then virtues and qua!/ 
and the impressions made upon Mm by their present. 

There was one feature of this society which struck him with peculiar in- 
terest. Allusion had been made to prayer meetings. He never knew a 
society that contained so large a number ot praying women. It was dis- 
tinguished for that. There was another trait in this people ; they always 
loved their pastor. When Mr. Williams came as a candidate among them, 
he was almost discouraged by the women who were weeping for Dr. Dana. 
It is a people distinguished in all their history for their esteem for their pas- 
tors. Not for the man, but for his works' sake. It is the shepherd that 
has had the affection of the people. He had never changed that impression. 
He never knew a people that combined more of the virtues of a good society 
than this, to whom for a period of fourteen years his earthly ministrations 
were devoted. 

He rejoiced in the scenes of the day. The venerable house, renovated in 
a manner to send it down to another generation, he should always look to 
with pleasure. He rejoiced in the spirit which he was permitted to discover, 
in that interesting unity which was manifest in support of their young and 
beloved pastor. He rejoiced that God had opened the windows of heaven, 
and poured out his mercies among them. He rejoiced that the church was 
growing in numbers in strength, in the graces of undivided devotedness. He 
would have the members hold fast to the great principles, which their fathers 
loved so much, and which lightened for them the dark passage to the tomb. 
He would have them search for vital godliness. The church had always 
been distinguished for this. To use a term which was common in years 
past, and which would be a good one now, this church had always been 
eminently a revival church. It was born in one of those seasons of universal 
outpourings of gospel riches, and he hoped it would always continue to be 
so. There was no true religion unless it was begotten by the Holy Spirit — 
no real piety unless coming from God, no conversion except by power from 
on high. We could not trust so much upon the success of preachers as upon 
Him who alone can bring light out of darkness. He would have them look 
to Christ for support. 

This was the first time that the lour pastors ever stood together, and 
would probably be the last. Many who then looked upon each other face to 
face would never again have an opportunity. We were all moving on life's 
journey ; the end would soon be reached and all of us pass to eternity. We 
should soon stand before the bar of God to give our last account. Oh, what 
a scene will that be, when pastor and people come together before him who 
searcheth the heart of man. How many will be sent away who gave no 
evidence of peace with God. How many will cover up their face and bow 
down, crying, " God be merciful to me a sinner.'' Let us all try and bring 
our sins to the foot of the cross and strive for purity. But what a glorious 



?3 

day .will -that be when we meet the smiles of out Maker. Whitefteld and 
Parsons, and; Murray and Williams and those whom these faithful pastors 
have, drawn from their sins through the grace of God, by their labors. God 
grant that. we may all be partakers of his love in that day. 

Dr. Yermilye of New York, remarked— 



That this seemed so much like a family gathering that he was afraid it, 
washardly becoming in a stranger to intrude upon their family joy. Yet 
he could hardly allow himself to be thought an entire stranger; he could 
not feel so. ' For there were ties in his connexion with a former pastor, to 
which So pleasant an allusion had been made, and especially in his connex- 
ion with the present, which certainly awakened his most lively sympathy in 
all that was going on among this people. He would, therefore, most cor- 
dially unite his voice with others in congratulation. The occasion, it seemed 
to him, was altogether congratulatory. It was a matter of thanks to God that 
the old meeting-house, the scene of so many interesting events, the spiritual 
home of so many now present and so many who have passed to their rest : a 
building combining so much that is interesting in the history of this town, 
and so much connected with the history of the church in this country, should 
yet stand. While change has been going on through the country and the 
world, this building remained a monument written over with the records of 
the past — a guide-stone pointing the path of the future. Its frail materials 
have outlived not only every other edifice in the place, probably, three gen- 
erations of men, but the very government which was recognized in this 
land when it was erected. During a period of agitation and change greater 
than was ever known in the same space of time, while the kingdoms of the 
earth have been moved, and thrones and altars have gone to the ground, 
while this continent has beheld more wonderful changes than any other 
portion of the globe and reveals literally a new world to our eye, this house 
remanis, fulfilling the same ends for which it was erected. Should one of 
the original worshippers return, he might indeed observe some slight alter- 
ations in its arrangements ; but he would see that here it still stands, and 
hither the tribes still come up to the testimony of the Lord. 

It is a subject of gratulation, also, that the spiritual edifice likewise re- 
mains unchanged. The same form of church order is upheld, and the 
same doctrines are here preached that first were heard within these walls. 
A pure gospel : man's ruin by the fall and recovery by the grace that is in 
Christ Jesus alone ; justification by faith, renewal and sanctification by the 
Holy Spirit — these have been the blissful themes to which all the ministers 
of this church have successively devoted their powers. While changes 
have been going on in these respects all around and in your immediate re- 
gion, and another gospel has been widely inculcated, this has been and con- 
tinues the faith of this church; and this simple gospel God has abundantly 
blessed to the establishing of this church and the upholding of the Saints. 

It is cause of congratulation, also, that the ministers among this people 



74 

have been always, I believe, well esteemed for their works' sake. Four 
successive pastors are here to-day. And I feel strongly impelled to offer 
thanks to this people in the name of Christians generally, for the good ex- 
ample they have set in this respect. While their ministers have been 
among them they have had grace and good sense and right feeling enough 
to treat them with kind consideration ; and when after removal they visit 
you, to give them the affectionate grasp of the hand and a cordial welcome. 
God is wont to bless a people who display a right estimate of the gospel by 
due benevolence to his servants. And for the reverse the blight has fallen 
upon many a people. 

These were proper causes of congratulation. May this edifice and the 
spiritual house here collected remain during the changes and storms of 
another century. Within its gates may devout worshippers never cease to 
gather. May its light shine on, illuminating this whole region, until it 
shall be merged, not lost, amidst the splendors of the millenial day. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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